Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District Rangers

It is not possible to determine the actual cost of the ranger program through examination of the Budget. (FA-16)

All District properties fall within the jurisdiction of either the SVPD or the VCSD. These agencies have the duty to provide law enforcement and public safety at all District properties. Rangers patrolling 47 District parks and facilities distributed over a large area are superfluous and ineffective. (FA-05, FA-17 through FA-25)

The level of law enforcement provided by the SVPD on District properties and the few contacts from the rangers requesting SVPD assistance demonstrate the relative importance of the SVPD in serving park properties. (FA-22 through FA-25)

The expenditure of public funds for the Ranger Program should be called into question given the presence and jurisdiction of the SVPD and the VCSD. (FA-04, FA-09 and FA-10, FA-12 through 14, FA-19 through FA-25)

Public funds are being inappropriately used by employing armed, sworn peace officers as rangers to perform non-law enforcement tasks. (FA-15) Recommendations

The District is served by a park ranger program intended to provide public safety, enforcement of park rules and regulations, vandalism prevention, and public education. (Att-04)

All rangers are armed, sworn peace officers. (Att-04)

Rangers may issue warnings or citations to persons violating park rules or ordinances. (Att-04)

The Budget provides for one senior ranger and two ranger positions. (Att-05)

Full-time and eligible part-time rangers receive employee benefits including participation in the California Public Employee Retirement System. The costs of employee benefits are not clearly detailed in the Budget. The benefit costs for the one-half ranger position indicated on of the Budget under Fund 45-Special Zone Tax, can be interpreted to be approximately 30 percent of total salary and employee benefits. (Att-05) Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District Rangers 3

The District’s ranger program is, in fact, staffed by one full-time senior ranger, two full-time rangers, and ten part-time rangers.

The District operates and maintains five ranger vehicles.

Rangers are issued uniforms, guns, ammunition, cell phones, protective vests, night vision instruments, and other types of equipment.

Ranger wages, uniform, and supply expenditures in fiscal year 2009- 2010 were estimated by the District to have been $381,000.

Armed, sworn rangers perform such non-law enforcement tasks as locking and unlocking gates and rest rooms. According to statements made by District personnel, rangers also conduct education programs.

The Budget fails to provide clear and complete detail of ranger program personnel and support costs. [Ref-01]

Ranger staffing varies widely from day to day. On most days there is only one ranger on duty. Daily Ranger Activity Reports for the six- month period from April 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010 were analyzed to obtain a history of ranger staffing levels. Copies of the Park Ranger Activity Reports, filed daily, were provided by the District at the request of the Grand Jury. The daily schedule may include an early shift running from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a late shift running from 3:30 p.m. to midnight. The analysis revealed the following information for both shifts over the 183-day (six-month) period as shown in the table below: Staffing Early Shift Late Shift (Days) (Days) No rangers on duty 68 2 One ranger on duty 98 97 Two or more rangers on duty 17 84 (

One or more additional rangers may be added to the day’s duty roster on holidays, some weekends, or for special park events or programs.

When confronted with law enforcement problems, rangers call upon the VCSD or the SVPD to assume responsibility.

All District parks and facilities located in the City of Simi Valley are within the jurisdiction of the SVPD. Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District Rangers

All District parks and facilities located in the unincorporated areas of the County, including the Oak Park community, are within the jurisdiction of the VCSD.

The SVPD responded to approximately 1,390 calls involving District parks and District facilities between September 1, 2009 and September 1, 2010.

Of the approximate 1,390 calls responded to by the SVPD to District properties, only 15 can be directly attributed to requests from District personnel.

Of the 1,390 responses to District parks and other District facilities, 492 were initiated by the SVPD.

The majority of remaining calls responded to by the SVPD are attributed to unknown callers, citizens, or 911 calls.

No definitive data on sources or numbers of responses to District parks or District facilities is available from the VCSD.

According to the District, it does not track its requests for SVPD or VCSD response. Findings