Law Enforcement Duties

Duties and Responsibilities of a Law Enforcement Ranger:

Primary Duties:

Law Enforcement - Park rangers, commissioned as Federal law enforcement officers, function as the police in a park. Rangers performed community based policing long before the term was popular. These duties are wide in range and depth; covering crimes against people, resource crimes such as poaching and even long term major investigations. Normal ranger duties include protecting park staff, visitors and park resources. These specific positions will also include duties such as detection, apprehension, and prosecution of cross border criminal activity, as well as working with the public and visitors to help educate them about the park and its resources. Rangers at Amistad may work a Bass Fishing Tournament one day and then doing lake patrols to ensure compliance with boating laws and regulations the next.

Potential Collateral Duties:

FIRE- Rangers perform fire fighting duties in parks and on assignments to all parts of the nation when their help is requested. Some rangers do both wildland fire and structural fire duties. This means they fight brush fires as well as house fires.

EMS- Rangers provide a wide range of emergency medical services to the public from first aid to advanced medical treatment, serving as first responders, emergency medical technicians and park medics. Park rangers are usually the first on the scene in emergency situations.

SAR- Rangers work in search and rescue capacity to help find lost persons or rescue people who are injured or otherwise need help. This can range from hiking a trail looking for a lost person to highly technical rescues from high angle cliffs or swift water, to flying suspended below a helicopter to pluck a stranded climber off a mountain.