LE Ranger

[2971511]

Regarding Govt Housing, having friends who have lived in it, some of it is very nice, but a lot of it is a DUMP, and not kept up well at all. It all depends where you go.

[AZDesertRat]

LMPT and NPS field training. But no, there's no add-on like Refuge Officer Basic School or anything.

So in theory, if one completed the LMPT, he could apply to a position with the level 1 requirement?

[Squirrel]

So in theory, if one completed the LMPT, he could apply to a position with the level 1 requirement?

Theoretically, yes.

"All newly hired permanent law enforcement personnel (including lateral hires) who have previously completed a FLETC basic academy training program approved and recognized by the NPS and DOI may not be required to repeat basic law enforcement academy training. In these circumstances, parks should expeditiously submit a request for waiver to the Deputy Chief LESES."

I don't suppose it's too terribly common. For the most part, the NPS is the farm team for other agencies like BLM and USFS. However, I know at least one person who came over from BIA.

If one were theoretically interested, one should probably speak directly with the Chief Ranger or other ranking LE staff at the park one is interested at working at.

[Squirrel]

However, I know at least one person who came over from BIA.

Actually, scratch that. I don't know if he did LMPT with BIA, or the BIA academy. He's moved on to greener pastures, and I don't have his contact info to ask him.

But anyway, the way the policy manual reads is, it's really a case-by-case evaluation of the totality of the circumstances, including the FLETC program, how long it's been since basic, any add-ons that have been done, work experience gained, etc. So I guess in many cases that would work better than a hard and fast rule anyway.

[ASR62]

Actually, scratch that. I don't know if he did LMPT with BIA, or the BIA academy. He's moved on to greener pastures, and I don't have his contact info to ask him.

But anyway, the way the policy manual reads is, it's really a case-by-case evaluation of the totality of the circumstances, including the FLETC program, how long it's been since basic, any add-ons that have been done, work experience gained, etc. So I guess in many cases that would work better than a hard and fast rule anyway.

I'm coming from the BIA to a full time permanent NPS LE Ranger position with LMPT obtained at FLETC Artesia. A waiver request was submitted by the boss lady at my park and it was approved. I will have to do a 2 week NPS bridge course at FLETC next year and the 11 week FTEP, field training evaluation program at a yet to be determined time and place. I'm being told they can initially work me on a conditional level I commission until I complete the aforementioned requirements and receive a full non-conditional commission. NPS used my security clearance but I had to do a phone interview, NPS specific medical exam and a drug screen.

[ACO88]

Do the seasonal Protection Rangers have the opportunity to go on special details to other parks around the country like the Perm Rangers do?

[Squirrel]

Do the seasonal Protection Rangers have the opportunity to go on special details to other parks around the country like the Perm Rangers do?

Seasonals aren't going to be on a SETT team or anything of that nature. And they're probably not going to get any 120-day acting Chief Ranger details either. However, seasonals can be (and are) sent on short-term details to assist other parks for special events. It may not be super-exciting or glamorous, but it's a chance to network and make a good impression.

[ACO88]

thanks for the info

[ACO88]

What do most of the seasonals do during the off season?

[SemperCop]

"Duties, are largely dependent on the type of park you're at. At some of the smaller park units, you may be a tour guide with a gun. At some of the urban parks, you will be more like a security guard/information kiosk with a gun. Even at large parks with proactive law enforcement programs, you will be, first and foremost, a Ranger...Yes, I've checked weather stations, built fences and mopped toilets while wearing a gun. And since you will wear the same uniform and hat as park guides and interpretive Rangers, people will simply see a Ranger, and not make the distinction. They WILL run up to you while you're on traffic stops to ask you what a certain critter is. They WILL ask you what all the stuff on your belt is. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

I started my law enforcement career as an NPS Ranger, where I worked for several years. I worked in a large, complex "crown jewel" park, a smaller historical park, and an urban/icon park.

My experiences were largely different from Squirrel's. In fact, I'd be interested to know where Squirrel works and how long they have been on the job.

It is true that your duties are largely dependent on the park you work in. BUT, those duties are, first and foremost, LE and then Fire/EMS/Search and Rescue. In my time with the NPS I worked drug investigations/interdiction, did poaching stings and hunting patrols, arrested loads of DUIs, checked fishing licenes, wrote speeding tickets by the barreful-ful, rescued injured hikers and climbers from cliff faces, mediated domestics in campgrounds, rode in helicopters, arrested a convicted murder parole absconder and did all the usual stuff your local police do to. I also was called a security guard and answered the question "why are you carrying a gun?" about 1.2 million times. I put up with endless Yogi Bear jokes from drunken idiots in campgroudns. I also got to paid fairly well to patrol some of America's coolest places.

Patrol could be by car, boat, mountain bike, air-boat, aircraft, ATV, horse, pack mule, or good old fashioned boot leather.

I respectfully disagree that even in a small historic park you will be a tour guide with a gun. Or that in an urban park you will be a security guard/information kiosk. Maybe 25 years ago that was true, but it isn't true today. That day is done, or those jobs are fading out fast. Although the NPS is behind the rest of modern law enforcement they are advancing all the time. LE is your number 1 job task, followed by other public safety duties.

I also never checked a weather station, built a fence or mopped a toilet in a duty belt and I never saw anybody else do that either. Rangers just don't do those things anymore. Or they shouldnt be, because it goes against the intent of their position description and 6c for the NPS is already in jeopardy. That mindset is slowly fading out of the NPS, for the better if you ask me.

In days of yore, people didn't become NPS Rangers to be LEOs, and the NPS went to great lengths to distance themselves from any hint that there was crime in the parks, even in some of the large ones like Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon. I think that is changing, as I see more and more NPS Rangers who genuinely made a conscious decisions to become NPS LEOs, and didn't end up with a commission by accident.

Do rangers give information to visitors? Absolutely. Do your local police officers do the same? Yes. But the days when a ranger gave a nature tour and then strapped on a .38 and went on a patrol are long over. Although they are being dragged kicking and screaming, the NPS is moving towards a more professional LE program.

Yes, you will have clueless people come up to you on a traffic stop and ask you for directions or about birds and flowers. You learn how to politely but firmly get rid of them. And yes, I had several people ask me if I was carrying a Taser "because of the bears". Rather than get upset I would try to take that opportunity to educate people about NPS LE Rangers. I will admit it gets old though.

Don't think that being an NPS Ranger is a retirement job or that its all sunsets and kittens. NPS areas are microcosms of society and there are plenty of issues to deal with. A fact the NPS doesn't like to admit is that NPS Rangers are the most frequently assaulted of all federal officers. There are many reasons why, but chiefly you have to remember that NPS Rangers are fulfilling a patrol function, dealing with the same drunks and mopes the local cops are dealing with, but they are doing it usually without backup and without reliable radio comms. And then there are the many, many people you are trying to take police action against who fight/run because they don't see you as the real police. Over the last decade or so there have been about 1-2 ranger-involved shootings a year, and 7 rangers have been shot and killed in the line of duty since 1927.

Federal court is very frustrating in most cases because they aren't well set up to deal with misdemeanors like DUI and Disorderly Conduct. They like to see the FBI and ATF but cringe when rangers come in with a reckless driving or a guy with 4 grams of weed in a campground.

You also have to deal with call-outs. Most parks don't have 24/7 operations, so you get called out at night. Thats fine if youre an OT hound, but you will get burned out after a while.

Some parks do have SRT-type tac teams, some parks have dive teams, and I know Natchez Trace Parkway has, or had, an ICE (interstate criminal enforcement ) team. The regional SETT teams are hardly "tactical", no matter what they call themselves. It would take hours if not days for SETT to get to any kind of tac incident. I've only ever seen them used for extra staffing at details and security posts. The only thing tactical about them is they train together once in a while, they have OD green uniforms and Eotechs on their rifles. Wow!

You have to remember, NPS LE is still ultimately managed by non-LE Park Superintendents. Most of them have no experience in LE or were rangers back in the day when everybody had a commission that they kept locked in the glovebox of their pickup next to their Kojak light and rusty .38. Many of them still pine for those days and have no understanding of how to run a modern LE program. Alot of the time its like re-inventing the wheel with them, which is very frustrating. Many more of them want nothing to do with LE and the NPS as a whole has a very anti-LE culture. They don't understand what it is that LE does, or how LE can contribute to their program, or resent the 6c benefits. Fortunately that is changing, but the NPS is being dragged kicking and screaming along!

Bottom line, there is no more unique or diverse LE you can do in this country. I went from patrolling the Atlantic Ocean on a 26' rigid hull inflatable to working traffic enforcement and urban-interface crimes on a busy parkway to doing bike patrol in a major city. Loved every minute of the work, but hated every second of the NPS bureacracy!

[Squirrel]

For the sake of my anonymity, and to protect the innocent (and not so innocent), I decline to answer where I've worked. And I have recently moved on from the NPS to an opportunity that proved more lucrative.

I worked at very pro-LE parks, and very anti-LE parks. I was specifically told at one park to not run RADAR and not write tickets unless absolutely necessary. I was given vehicles without emergency equipment in order to perform LE duties, and I was chewed out for answering a call for LE service when I was supposed to be manning an information kiosk (with a badge and a gun). And that was at a decently-sized, medium-to-high visitation park. Of course, that park had basically its entire LE staff (except for the Chief) turn over in a two year time period, so draw your own conclusions there.

On the flip side, I have also worked for very supportive, proactive supervisors. I was told to go out and get into whatever I could get into, with the tools and resources needed to do so. I was also allowed to lead some pretty hefty projects, which I'm sure played a large part in bolstering my resume to get me where I am today.

Did I mop some toilets at a very pro-LE park? Yup. And that was my call. When your 70-year old retiree campground host calls at oh-dark-thirty on Sunday, that the comfort station has a problem, you've got two options. Rather than close the station (and inconvenience the visitors) and wait for maintenance to come in from home, I grabbed a mop and bucket and gloves, and fixed the issue in 10 minutes. Sure, it doesn't help the 6c argument, but I maintain that it was the right thing to do -- and it got me on the good side of the camp host. But it wasn't a regularly assigned duty there. Frankly, it's not that different from the patrol cop who can either wait two hours for the road crew to move a tree branch from the road, or he can move it himself and be done in five minutes.

Do I miss the job? Yes. Do I miss the NPS? Eh.

Maybe some day, more of the the forward-thinking, pro-LE Rangers will migrate up the food chain into Chief and Superintendent positions, and NPS LE will become more consistently proactive and LE-oriented. Currently, if the Chief and/or Superintendent change, the park's enforcement mentality can go from proactive to hug-a-thug in a heartbeat.

Of course, I also hope that Rangers never forget the Ranger tradition, and remain capable of and willing to do it all if required. Otherwise, we might as well just put USPP into all the parks, and farm out fire/SAR/EMS/etc. to other divisions or outside agencies. (No disrespect meant to the brothers and sisters in blue, of course.)

[SemperCop]

Ok, Squirrel, that makes more sense and I retract my earlier statement that our experiences were so different. I'm in the same boat now, having left the NPS in the last few years for greener pastures. I echo the sentiment that I thoroughly miss the job, but not the NPS.

I'd still like to know what park had you working in an information desk in duty gear, so I can call in a predator drone strike on that superintendent's office. Why am I thinking a certain small park in Atlanta?

I do see pro-LE people moving into management positions by small increments, but the problem is the best LE Rangers all get poached by the Forest Service, BLM, Fish & Wildlife...hell, even agencies outside land management policing (like me) before they get to that point!

[grunt82abn]

Does anyone have info on the academy for BLM Ranger LMPT for the 1801 series? I have been to a FLETC academy already and I know it won't count...So any info would be greatly appreciated!!!

[FireControlman]

Did anyone apply for any of the open seasonal positions or the current NPS perm position in HI?

[CACBAND]

Yes and have not heard back