Sometimes when I drive through a national park, I notice a lack of speed limit signs. This got me thinking—can national park rangers give speeding tickets? I did some research to find out more.
National park rangers can give speeding tickets as they’re considered peace officers and can enforce any law, including vehicle and traffic laws. As peace officers, park rangers have a badge, the power to arrest, and carry. Park rangers are more likely to issue a citation within the park but patrol outside it too.
While national park rangers have similar powers to police officers, what makes them able to issue speeding tickets, and what other powers do they have? Let’s take a look at the details.
Can Park Rangers Issue Citations?
As peace officers, park rangers are the primary police agency in the National Park System and have a similar ability to issue citations as police officers and other law enforcement agents (source).
What is a peace officer?
While the term can vary from state to state it usually means a position that carries a badge, has the power to arrest, and also carries a firearm. A police officer, deputy sheriff, state trooper, and special agent all have the similarity of being peace officer positions.
Golawenforcement.com
The only difference is park rangers are focused on the protection of natural resources, NPS employees, and visitors. For this reason, they’re generally focused on protecting the within the park. However, there are cases when they patrol or pursue outside of the park’s perimeter.
As a result, there are known cases of park rangers issuing speeding tickets and other citations, even outside of the park.
What Powers Do Park Rangers Have?
Park rangers enforce both federal and state laws within National Park Services. The NPS also has special agents who perform more complex investigations. Both rangers and agents share authority with their state and/or country law enforcement agencies.
They’re also provided extensive and regular training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which includes training on carrying.
According to Wikipedia,
National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers or United States Park Rangers are uniformed federal law enforcement officers with broad authority to enforce federal and state laws within National Park Service sites.
Park rangers and agents have policies in place for when and if outside agencies are needed to assist.
Here’s a full list of the major job duties of park rangers:
- Education – Park rangers may work in the visitor’s center and educate guests on the park, how to protect the environment, and more. Rangers may also go to local schools or other organizations and conduct presentations on local wildlife, conservation methods, and nature.
- Assist Park Visitors – Park rangers provide information, directions, and help to those who are visiting the park. This includes assisting with camping (in parks where camping is allowed). Park rangers are expected to be knowledgeable about the park they are assigned.
- Patrol – Rangers often spend time outdoors patrolling. These park rangers are looking for litter, poaching, wounded animals, lost children, and hurt visitors. They may need to provide emergency first aid when needed.
- Enforcing Park Regulations and Laws – Park rangers uphold and enforce all laws—even those that do not pertain to parks. However, they usually only enforce park regulations unless they come across illegal activity in a park. They do carry and are trained to defend themselves (source).
- Citations, Fines, and Arrests – Park rangers are also empowered to write fines, confiscate hunting/fishing licenses, and make arrests whenever the situation calls for it.
- Investigate Cases – Park rangers may train to be special agents. These agents work for the NPS and conduct investigations into questionable activity that takes place in national or state parks.
- Evidence and Testimony – When park rangers make an arrest, they often have to appear in court to provide testimony. They’re also in charge of collecting any evidence at the crime scene and are properly trained on the subject.
- Search and Rescue – Park rangers are frequently the first to respond when someone is lost in the park. They’ll work with other law enforcement as necessary to help find the lost person.
- Evacuating and Closing the Park – Park rangers are responsible for finding everyone in the park and getting them to safety in the event of a forest fire, tornado, flooding, or other natural disasters. They’re also trained in emergency medical services (EMS) and firefighting.
- Administration – Those who work in the visitor’s center may also handle daily admin tasks, work as a dispatcher for other rangers, and perform other tasks as needed.
Park Ranger vs Game Warden
Similar to park rangers, game wardens (AKA federal wildlife officers) protect the parks, but through the US Fish and Wildlife Services instead of the National Park Services. While they both enforce some state and federal laws, game wardens also protect the parks from overfishing, poaching, and excessive hunting.
Do National Park Rangers Carry?
National park rangers, agents, and game wardens carry, defend themselves, and can make arrests. Because of the nature of their role and working with fishing and hunting conflicts, game wardens are often carrying more than other positions.
To learn more about the powers of park rangers, and what they do, check out this short video:
Final Thoughts
Since Alexis and I are planning a big national parks adventure next year, it’s good to know what the park rangers can help with (and can’t help with). We’ll include this information in our emergency plan for when we’re traveling through the parks.
Overall, I learned a lot from researching for this post and have a new respect for park rangers. It’s clear they wear many hats and have a lot of responsibility.
Disclaimer: The materials provided above are informational and should not be relied upon as legal advice.