ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION: 07-302, (June 26, 2008)

The Attorney General opined that a regularly employed park ranger, designated by the employing district as a paid member of the district’s police force, has statewide peace officer powers pursuant to Penal Code section 830.31, but only when performing his or her primary duties or under specified circumstances.

Penal Code section 830.31(b) grants peace officer authority to park rangers throughout the state when performing their primary duties which involve the “protection of park and other property of the agency and the preservation of the peace therein.” The statute also grants them peace officer authority anywhere in the state “when making an arrest pursuant to section 836 as to any public offense with respect to which there is immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of the perpetrator of that offense, or pursuant to section 8597 or 8598 of the Government Code.” [GC 8597 and 8598 involve a declared state of emergency.]

In addition, California Public Resources Code, section 5561, states that park rangers “shall have, within the district for which they are appointed or employed, all the powers of police officers of municipal corporations, except the power of serving and executing civil process.” Park rangers, the Attorney General noted, “typically perform such duties as patrolling and protecting the peace within park areas; investigating violations of laws and enforcing laws within park areas; and assisting in parking enforcement, lifeguard services, and emergency medical responses within park areas as needed.

However, when outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the district, the ranger does not, for example, have the authority to issue a citation for a violation of a state law or local ordinance, unless it is “for the purpose of performing the park ranger’s primary duty, or when the offense presents an immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of the perpetrator of that offense.”   As an example, says the Attorney General, “traffic offenses are a familiar occasion for exercising the statewide arrest authority, but not necessarily the only one.”