Grand jury faults Rancho Simi parks
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

The Ventura County grand jury thinks the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District not only ought to do a better job of keeping track of crimes committed on its properties, but should also make those statistics available to the public in an annual report.

The recommendation is one of six included in a grand jury report recently released following a monthlong investigation into the law enforcement aspects of the park district's ranger program. The program employs three fulltime rangers covering 5,394 acres of parkland in Simi Valley, Oak Park and unincorporated Ventura County.

In the report, the grand jury suggests the park district "consider providing 24hour, sevendayaweek patrol coverage of its properties and facilities so that it can better address security needs."

Included in the grand jury findings is the statement that "loitering by homeless persons and gang activity on district property is increasing" and therefore "frequently requires assistance from either SVPD or VCSD," an assertion, among others in the report, with which park district General Manager Larry Peterson disagrees.

"There isn't an increase in activity that suggests there's a problem. And there isn't anyone in the public that says there's a problem," Peterson said. "No event stands out that would trigger this (investigation)."

Though he may not agree with all of the grand jury's findings or recommendations, Peterson said, he didn't see the report as an attack on the park district, but merely as "suggestions for improvement."

"It's not like they're hitting us over the head with a hammer," he said. "We're willing to accept there's always room to improve."

Still, the report is anything but complimentary.

In addition to stating that the park district doesn't do enough to inform the public about the "mission, duties and responsibilities" of its rangers, the report concludes that this "lack of awareness" about the rangers' enforcement authority has made it difficult for the district attorney's office to successfully prosecute those who commit crimes on park property.

Peterson defended the program's enforcement capabilities, saying that park rangers have better communication lines with local law enforcement now than they've ever had in his eight-year tenure as general manager.

"Our job is to make sure that the parks are a safe and comfortable place for everyone to go . . . and we do that with the rangers and I think we do a decent job at it," he said.

Peterson pointed out that every district ranger is a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer with more than 20 years of law enforcement experience, and each carries a firearm for protection in the event of an emergency.

"Our primary mission is to provide parks and recreational activities to the public, and we're already going a step beyond most agencies by making sure our rangers are armed and are former police officers," Peterson said.

According to senior park ranger Jerry DeRosa, a 15-year employee of the Rancho Simi district, current protocol allows rangers to use their own discretion in handling incidents they observe in the district's 48 parks. They decide when to call in police backup.

"We've got the type of background where we can pretty much judge what's going by observing people," DeRosa said. "We're not going to jump into a pool of alligators."

DeRosa said that when a minor infraction is observed- such as skateboarding where it's offlimits or walking a dog off leash- a ranger will generally respond with a warning. If it's not adhered to, DeRosa said, the ranger might issue a citation.

On the other hand, if a ranger sees what appears to be either a misdemeanor or a felony occurring, they would probably conduct only a preliminary investigation before placing a call to the Simi Valley police or sheriff's department.

Rangers are duly sworn peace officers in the state of California pursuant to the penal code and in Simi they carry the standard issue mace, baton and handcuffs.

"We do have police powers- we can arrest people, we can fight people- but we have an agreement with Simi P.D. that if we get into an arrest situation, other than just an infraction, we'll call them in. We've got great communication

with the police department," said DeRosa, a Simi resident.

The park district has 90 days to respond to the grand jury report, either accepting or rejecting the panel's recommendations. Peterson said he wants to address the report in a timely manner.

"I say, 'Let's do it quickly and effectively and respect the overall mission of the district.' I'm not going to take this and turn it into a 300-hour project," Peterson said. "We'll have a meeting or two, take the additional steps asked of us in the document and then make recommendations to our board of directors.

"I suspect we'll respond with some disagreements," he said.