Kern County grand jury takes a close look at two local park ranger systems

Parks are the crown jewels of any city — or county. And every child deserves the chance to play in safe, clean playgrounds and parks.

So said the Kern County grand jury in a report released Wednesday that took a close-up look at the operations and management of the Kern County Park Rangers and the Bakersfield City Park Rangers programs.

"Park rangers are the guardians of Kern County and Bakersfield city parks," the grand jury said in its report. "Rangers focus on proactive policing in hopes of stopping a small problem before it turns into something bigger."

But there are challenges rangers face, often related to the size of the enforcement area versus the number of rangers available.

County rangers, in particular, are responsible for a vast area, essentially all recreational areas within the county's jurisdiction. These include Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area, Hart Park, Isabella Lake, Lake Ming, Lake Woollomes and 35 neighborhood parks and campgrounds. County rangers patrol and monitor more than 100 parks and campgrounds across more than 8,000 square miles in Kern County, the grand jury said in its report.

It's a huge challenge.

The Bakersfield City Park Ranger program is much newer than the decades-old county program. Established less than two years ago in August 2022, the city ranger program is responsible for all parks and sports complexes within Bakersfield city limits. This includes more than 62 parks, four public pools, 10 spray parks, two sports complexes, two skate parks, one large amphitheater, disc golf courses and more.

According to the jury's report, the city currently has 18 rangers patrolling the parks. They observe visitor behavior and park conditions, parking violations, monitor homeless encampments and document activities at parks, including vandalism or other illegal activity. Rangers document and report any safety hazards to the buildings or playgrounds to the ranger supervisor for immediate repairs.

City rangers are responsible for locking restrooms at 10 p.m. and unlocking them at 5 a.m.

Homeless encampments are not allowed in any of the parks, the grand jury found.

If there is a situation that involves a mental health issue, the rangers contact a mobile evaluation team, which consists of staff from Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.

The Kern County Park Rangers are considered to be law enforcement-based, and the Bakersfield City Park Rangers are considered to be community-based enforcement.

For a time, one of the biggest problems faced by the county was that its rangers were underpaid in comparison with their counterparts in the city ranger program, making new recruitment difficult, the grand jury's investigation found.

But the report also determined that the county program was "underutilizing (its) access to local schools for recruitment."

In an effort to remedy the pay disparity, the Kern County Board of Supervisors voted in December to increase salaries for park ranger, senior park ranger, supervising park ranger, and park ranger manager positions by 10.49% to 53%, depending on classification, effective Dec. 30.

"These new changes put them on par with the city ranger program," the report stated.

The increases in salary also came with a significant modification to the chain of command.

The county rangers had previously been under the jurisdiction of the county's General Services division, but supervisors shifted that responsibility to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.

The Kern County grand jury's findings in its report are as follows:

● Park ranger programs have dedicated employees who want parks to be a safe and clean environment for the citizens, making the parks more enjoyable.

● City rangers are a self-sufficient program, making them less reliant on other city services.

● Occasionally, vehicles being driven through the Kern County parks do not follow posted speed limit signs, endangering visitors.

● Since most illegal activity occurs after dark in city and county parks, daylight operating hours would be preferable for safety concerns.

● Various county buildings have multiple types of security for monitoring purposes, which may be an inefficient use of staff.

● County parks in outlying areas may not receive the same maintenance scheduling because of staffing deficiencies.

● Kern County high schools and colleges are a good source for recruitment into the rangers’ programs.