Judges: EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Attorney General
Filed Date: 6/26/2008
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
EDMUND G. BROWN JR. Attorney General SUSAN DUNCAN LEE Deputy Attorney General
THE HONORABLE IRA RUSKIN, MEMBER OF THE STATE ASSEMBLY, has requested an opinion on the following question:
Does a person designated by a regional open space district as a park ranger, and regularly employed and paid in that capacity as part of the district's police force, have peace officer powers under the terms of Penal Code section
In this opinion, we consider a situation in which an open space district has appointed a number of park rangers with peace officer powers. The central question here is whether *Page 3 a park ranger has authority to exercise peace officer powers for purposes of violations of law that occur outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the district. In order to answer that question, we must examine two different statutes. Our task is to reconcile any apparent conflict between these two statutes in a manner that gives effect to the legislative intent underlying both of them.3
On one hand, we have Penal Code section
We find instructive an opinion by the court of appeal in Brierton v.Department of Motor Vehicles,
This legislative design indicates an intent to have each class of peace officer enforce the laws within the ambit of their specified employment duties, and to make other law enforcement actions the exception rather than the rule. Generally speaking, under this system, California Highway Patrol officers should not be focusing on patrolling the state university campuses and campus police officers should not be spending their time patrolling public highways. However, this does not mean that California Highway Patrol officers do not have the authority to enforce state laws on university campuses or that campus police officers do not have the authority to enforce state laws outside of a university campus (or beyond the area within one mile of a university campus).11
Following the reasoning in Brierton, we perceive that the combined intent of Penal Code section
In other words, a park ranger may exercise any of the powers of a peace officer anywhere in the state for the purpose of performing his or her primary duty. For example, a park ranger would be authorized to execute a search warrant anywhere in the state in order to investigate a theft of the park's property.13
Additionally, a park ranger may exercise the power of arrest anywhere in the state as to any public offense that presents an immediate danger to person or property.14 In this connection, we note that this power does not extend only to felonies, but to any public offense — including a misdemeanor or infraction — that poses an immediate danger to persons or property.15 Traffic offenses are a familiar occasion for exercising the statewide arrest authority, 16 but not necessarily the only one.17
Further, a park ranger has the power of arrest with respect to the escape of a perpetrator of an offense that presents an immediate danger to person or property. Again, *Page 7 because of their mobile and fleeting nature, traffic offenses are a familiar occasion for exercising such authority, 18 but, again, not necessarily the only one.
Finally, we have been asked to consider specifically whether a park ranger has authority to issue a citation for a violation of a state law or local ordinance occurring outside the district. It has been suggested that Public Resources Code section
In sum, we conclude that a person designated by a regional open space district as a park ranger, and regularly employed and paid in that capacity as part of the district's police force, may exercise the powers set forth in Penal Code section
(a) The board shall superintend, control, and make available to all of the inhabitants of the district, subject to its ordinances, rules, and regulations, all public parks, playgrounds, beaches, parkways, scenic drives, boulevards, open spaces, and other facilities for public recreation belonging to the district or under its control.
The board shall regulate, restrain, and control the kind of vehicles, and the time and conditions of travel or parking on such public parks, playgrounds, beaches, parkways, scenic drives, boulevards, open spaces, and other facilities for public recreation, and it shall employ a suitable police force and shall adopt all ordinances, rules, and regulations necessary for the administration, government, protection, and use of the property, improvements, and facilities belonging to the district or under its control.
The board shall, in general, do all acts necessary to the proper execution of the powers and duties granted to, and imposed upon, it by this article, and to manage and control the business and affairs of the district.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the board of any district organized pursuant to Sections 5506.5 and 5538.5 may designate and employ officers and employees of the county in which the district is located as the district police force required by this section.
The following persons are peace officers whose authority extends to any place in the state for the purpose of performing their primary duty or when making an arrest pursuant to Section 836 as to any public offense with respect to which there is immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of the perpetrator of that offense, or pursuant to Section 8597 or 8598 of the Government Code. These peace officers may carry firearms only if authorized, and under the terms and conditions specified, by their employing agency.
. . . .
(b) A person designated by a local agency as a park ranger and regularly employed and paid in that capacity, if the primary duty of the officer is the protection of park and other property of the agency and the preservation of the peace therein.
The police appointed or employed by the board shall have, within the district for which they are appointed or employed, all the powers of police officers of municipal corporations except the power of serving and executing civil process.
We assume that all lands owned or managed by a district are within the jurisdictional boundaries of the district for purposes of section 5561 and of our analysis.
The following persons are peace officers whose authority extends to any place in the state:
. . .
(c) A member of the California State University Police Departments appointed pursuant to Section
89560 of the Education Code, provided that the primary duty of the peace officer shall be the enforcement of the law within the area specified in Section89560 of the Education Code.
The trustees may appoint one or more persons to constitute a police department for the headquarters and for each campus of the California State University. Persons employed and compensated as members of a California State University police department, when so appointed and duly sworn, are peace officers. However, such peace officers shall not exercise their powers or authority except (a) at the headquarters or upon any campus of the California State University and in an area within one mile of the exterior boundaries of each campus or the headquarters, and in or about other grounds or properties owned, operated, controlled, or administered by the California State University, or by trustees or the state on behalf of the California State University, and (b) as provided in Section
830.2 of the Penal Code.