PSFSS COMMITTEE: 3/16/17 ITEM: (d) 3 CITY OF SAN IPSE Memorandum CAPITAL OF SILICON VALLEY TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE, AND FROM: Angel Rios, Jr. STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE SUBJECT: PARK RANGER PROGRAM DATE: March 8, 2017 ANNUAL REPORT Approved Date .5 A - n RECOMMENDATION Accept the 2016 Annual Report on the Park Ranger Program. BACKGROUND The City of San Jose's Park Ranger Program is an integral part of the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department (PRNS). Its mission is to provide a safe, enjoyable park experience by protecting and educating the public, providing recreational opportunities, and protecting, preserving, and enhancing the natural and cultural resources of the City's parks, trails and open spaces. The Park Ranger Program has its roots in resource and visitor protection. The City established the Park Ranger Unit in 1972 after a period in the 1960's and early 1970's when San Jose's park system expanded rapidly and crime and vandalism were deterring residents from using parks. A community task force convened to address crime issues at Alum Rock Park and other neighborhood parks and recommended adding Park Rangers. Originally, Park Rangers were Auxiliary Police Officers, appointed by the Chief of Police and granted Peace Officer powers while on duty. The Park Ranger Unit provided law enforcement services along with land management and visitor services. Park Rangers underwent police academy training, and the Police Department provided them with equipment and vehicles for their work. By the late 1970's, the San Jose Police Department created a Parks Enforcement Unit to provide a higher level of enforcement (rather than arming San Jose's Park Rangers). In 1983, state law changed, granting Park Rangers independent Peace Officer status under section 830.31(b) of the California Penal Code, which provides Peace Officer powers to regularly employed Park Rangers for the protection of park property and the preservation of peace. As time passed, the PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE & STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE March 8, 2017 Subject: Park Ranger Program Annual Report Page 2 of 8 Police Department dissolved its dedicated Parks Enforcement Unit, and the Park Rangers' law enforcement role increased. Over the course of the program's 44-year history, San Jose Park Rangers have worked to ensure a safe and enjoyable atmosphere in City parks. Park Rangers assist park users, provide information on appropriate park use, and educate visitors on park rules and procedures. As public safety officers, Park Rangers also render emergency medical care, conduct search and rescue operations, and perform wildland fire prevention patrols as well as provide initial wildland fire suppression. As stewards of the City's natural and cultural resources, Park Rangers work to protect and monitor park lands, restore native vegetation, maintain rustic hiking trails, and educate the public on the cultural and natural history of San Jose. Park Rangers also maintain safety and security in our neighborhood parks and along trails. ANALYSIS The City of San Jose Park Ranger Program has provided outstanding public service in San Jose's regional parks since its founding in 1972. Regional parks that were becoming overburdened with resource damage and criminal activity, such as Alum Rock Park, are now enjoyed daily by walkers, joggers, and picnicking families. New efforts by Park Rangers are addressing quality- of-life issues in areas not previously served, such as neighborhood parks and watershed corridors. The Park Ranger Program has also forged a successful partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to create a Watershed Protection Team. In addition, the City's regional parks are growing in popularity, new neighborhood parks are being added, and the trail network is in the process of expansion from the current 57 miles of trails to a total of 100 miles. This creates opportunities to further expand Park Ranger presence and services to the community. Over the long-term, combined with added General Fund resources, PRNS will continue to explore public and private partnership opportunities in an effort to generate funds that can be used to expand the Park Ranger Program and, more importantly, to ensure the City's urban park and trail systems are safe and enjoyable. 2016 Program Highlights During the last year, the Park Ranger Program has achieved the following: • Two Park Ranger program recruits graduated from the Park Ranger Academy and Field Training Program and were assigned to Kelley Park and Lake Cunningham Regional Park. • In fall 2016, the Park Ranger Program created a recruiting team of Park Rangers on overtime or modified duty to target college job fairs and statewide professional trainings. • Park Rangers hosted special events for the community, including Japanese Friendship Garden walks and night photography, and Bollywood dance classes at Kelley Park. PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE & STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE March 8, 2017 Subject: Park Ranger Program Annual Report Page 3 of 8 • In late November 2016, after being notified by park visitors, Park Rangers initiated a medical response and, alongside San Jose Firefighters, extricated a young man who had suffered head, neck, and back injuries at Alum Rock Park. • The Program purchased and deployed a mobile fingerprint unit for the Watershed Protection Team, shared with wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to identify persons without a valid identification. Park Rangers have already used the unit several times to identify chronic violators providing false identification to avoid arrest for outstanding felony and misdemeanor warrants. • The program piloted mobile data terminals in two patrol vehicles assigned to the Watershed Protection Team to facilitate documentation of enforcement related contacts and reports. The program will assess their cost-benefit in decreasing time spent on report writing, which is normally done at desktop work stations. The terminals also allow access to the San Jose Police Department's report writing software and improve processing time for Park Ranger reports, which usually must be hand processed. Park Rangers by the Numbers Park Rangers play a number of roles while stewarding the City's natural resources, and educating and protecting visitors. One role is coordinating volunteers, community groups, and educational institutions who donate their time and resources to improve the park system, including conducting trail work at Alum Rock Park, providing interpretive programs and docent services, building and donating benches, installing and maintaining a native plant garden for the Alum Rock Visitor Center and Lake Cunningham Regional Park, and mapping mountain lion sightings at Alum Rock Park. The table below summarizes volunteer activities coordinated by Park Rangers. Park Number of Volunteers Number of Hours Value* Almaden Lake 25 300 $16,554 Alum Rock 193 5,230 $144,296 Kelley 13 39 $1,076 Emma Prusch Farm 176 528 $14,568 Lake Cunningham 110 330 $9,105 Overfelt Gardens 308 924 $25,493 Watersheds 687 2,796 $77,142 Total 1,512 10,147 $288,234 * The value of these volunteer hours is calculated at $27.59 per hour by the Independent Sector, a national non­ profit policy and advocacy organization for volunteer activities. Park Rangers also have a key role in emergency response, providing medical aid, suppressing wildland fires, and responding to search and rescue events within the park system. These events can vary from a missing child at Kelley Park to overdue hikers in the back country of Alum Rock Park. The Park Ranger Program operates four Type 6 Wildland Fire Engines for initial response to suppress wildland fires in their incipient stage to prevent these fires from becoming major events. All full-time, peace officer Park Rangers are required to complete a National Wildfire PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE & STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE March 8, 2017 Subject: Park Ranger Program Annual Report Page 4 of 8 Coordinating Group-approved training program for wildland fire suppression, and many seasonal Park Rangers also complete it. The table below summarizes 2016 emergency response. Search/Missing Park Fire Responses Medical Events Person Almaden Lake 2 6 1 Alum Rock 5 30 1 Guadalupe River / Downtown Core 0 8 0 Emma Prusch Farm / Overfelt Gardens • 2 2 0 Kelley 14 62 2 Lake Cunningham 1 14 1 TOTALS 24 122 5 Another key role of Park Rangers is to ensure a safe and enjoyable park system through education and enforcement, which is summarized in the table below for 2016. As these statistics indicate, the City's watersheds have received an enhanced level of enforcement because of the unique challenges they have presented. Parking Criminal Crime Park Warnings Citations Citations Reports Arrests Almaden Lake 751 20 0 1 0 Alum Rock 816 117 10 13 1 Guadalupe River / Downtown Core 524 0 98 10 12 Emma Prusch Farm / Overfelt Gardens 588 13 0 1 0 Kelley , 1,403 412 ' 27 24 3 Lake Cunningham 1,554 327 0 1 3 Watersheds 533 0 466 226 46 Total 6,169 889 601 276 65 Watershed Protection Team In recognition of the unique challenges watersheds have presented, in 2013, the City entered into a funding partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Water District (Water District). The partnership is for five years with a one-year option for renewal, dependent upon the Water District and City budget approvals and the success of the Watershed Protection Team, to patrol and enforce regulations in targeted watersheds along the Guadalupe River, and Los Gatos and Coyote Creeks. The Watershed Protection Team is a specialized unit of four Park Rangers who work with multiple agencies, including the City's Housing and Environmental Services departments and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to prevent the return of homeless encampments in designated areas and to remove trash and other debris from City watersheds and public lands. Under the multiyear agreement, the Water District provides funding for two limit-dated Park Rangers and the City funds two additional Park Ranger positions and one Senior Park Ranger.