Ride along with a Santa Maria city ranger

You may have seen trucks driving around Santa Maria with “CITY RANGER” painted on the side. They look like police cruisers, but they’re not.

So what the heck is a city ranger?

Formally park rangers, Santa Maria changed their designation to city rangers on Jan. 6. The reason, according to Recreation and Parks Director Dennis Smitherman, was to clear the confusion about who the rangers are and what they do. Because city rangers do more than patrol area parks.

click to enlarge Ride along with a Santa Maria city ranger
PHOTO BY DAVID MINSKY
ROVING RANGER: City Ranger Casey Stone takes a call during his patrol around Santa Maria.

“We wanted to create a clear understanding that the city rangers have jurisdiction outside the parks,” Smitherman said. “The rangers oversee a lot of community property, including parking lots.”

One of those properties is the Town Center parking lot. Much of the public confusion stemmed from rangers stopping people there, according to Smitherman, who added that the rangers also have the authority to detain people, conduct investigations, and make arrests and traffic stops, too.

I was curious. So on the afternoon of April 1, I went on a ride-along with Casey Stone, senior parks services officer for Santa Maria. Turns out they drive around a lot, scope out city parks, and do what they can to help people who need it.

At 2:30 p.m., a burly man walks into the Recreation and Parks office. It’s Stone. He’s wearing a khaki uniform top, black slacks, and a belt equipped with numerous items, including a radio and a Taser. I jump into the passenger seat of his patrol vehicle and Stone begins the tour of what he calls the “central beat.”

Stone is not the typical city ranger. Originally from Santa Maria, he’s a former attorney from the Farmington area of New Mexico who served in both defense and prosecutor capacities. He’s been patrolling the city for almost a year. 

Ten minutes after we left, we hit the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center where a baseball game is happening. We leave the youth center, make a right onto McClelland, and cut through the courthouse parking lot. We head toward the bus station.

We hang for a minute at the bus station; Stone makes his presence known then moves on. Heading down Main Street, we hook a left on Conception toward Armstrong Park, which borders Fesler Junior High School. There appears to be a person sleeping in the far corner of the park. Circling around Fesler, Stone takes us to Pearlman Park on Main and Broadway.

By 3:05 p.m., we’re at Pearlman, also called Central Park. Stone said rangers and police try to have a heavy presence here, adding that the park is home to many transients.

In addition to parking enforcement, city rangers also enforce laws regulating alcohol consumption, drugs, and camping at parks—none of which is allowed, Stone said.

In 10 minutes, our city ranger truck was back at Fesler. Students pour out of school as their day ends. We circle Armstrong three times. It still looks like someone is sleeping in the corner.

We head toward Pioneer Valley High School around 3:45 p.m.; the school borders Edwards Park on Panther Drive. It’s a main leg of Stone’s central beat. He said rangers patrol here because after school hundreds of students will cut through the footpath that connects the park to Domingues Street. He also patrols the path connecting Seneca and Hillsboro.

Heading west on Donovan Road, a car is stalled in the left lane near the corner of Magellan Drive. Stone stops his vehicle and gets out to help push the driver and his car to safety.

At 3:57 p.m., Stone hooks a right onto Magellan, patrolling the canals for any illegal activity, such as graffiti. We make a left onto Seaward and make a sweep of the levee.

In three minutes, we’re at James May Park. It’s one of the few parks in the area with a lake or a pond. About six months ago, an encampment of transients was found in a county flood control area between the park and the freeway, Stone said.

Five minutes later, we’re heading north on the 101 and pull off to the levee trail entrance near Broadway. A man is adjusting the straps holding a Santa Maria-style barbecue pit to the bed of his Cadillac Escalade truck. He gives us a quick glance, looks away, then does a double take.

By 4:13 p.m., we’re at Preisker Park and Stone gets a call about an incident at Pearlman.

Four people who look like transients are detained on the lawn at Pearlman by 4:30 p.m. Sleeping bags, blankets, bikes, and a stroller are strewn across the grass. Two city rangers—including Stone—and a police officer responded to the incident. The other city ranger detained a woman for allegedly smoking marijuana. It turns out she had a misdemeanor warrant but won’t likely be arrested, Stone said. The Santa Maria police officer arrives and we take off.

It seems like a boring job, but the action doesn’t come from enforcing laws, just simply interacting with the public.

“We keep it as positive and civil as much as we can,” Stone said. “It’s not just about law enforcing. ”

 

Contact Staff Writer David Minsky at [email protected].

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