Panel Approves Options to Improve Park Safety

The Los Angeles City Council took steps Tuesday to improve the safety of the city’s 374 parks, but held back on allowing park rangers to carry firearms.

The council will wait until after Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bernard C. Parks finishes examining ways to assimilate the park rangers into his department before proceeding with discussions about arming them, said Chief Ranger Hector E. Hernandez.

“Our function is that of a ranger. We do not want to be police,” Hernandez said.

Some improvements approved Tuesday include continuing efforts to familiarize park rangers with LAPD procedures, maintaining park crime statistics for strategic planning, expanding community participation with the Community Police Advisory Board, improving the quality of the ranger vehicles and establishing a “retake public places” strategy.