ANAHEIM : New Beat for Rangers: Campuses

While many county school districts hire private security guards or ask local police officers to patrol their campuses during off-hours, districts in Anaheim are using park rangers, a new tool that other districts say they may consider.

“We try to help people rather than be out there looking for the bad guys,” said Christopher George, a recreation service specialist for the city and a senior park ranger. “A lot of times security guards can be intimidating. People can relate to a ranger a lot better.”

From sundown Friday to sunup Monday morning, Anaheim’s park rangers patrol about 40 school sites during their regular rounds of the city parks.

Their main role is to act as deterrents, warning would-be vandals not to commit crimes. They carry no guns but wear uniforms and have radio contact with the Anaheim Police Department to report trouble.

Sometimes they make citizens’ arrests when police cannot get to the scene in time.

Plagued by campus crime and graffiti, the Anaheim City School District decided last fall to launch a pilot program using the city rangers to patrol their schools on weekends.

The program was so successful, saving the elementary district about $20,000 in annual vandal-related expenses, that district officials opted to keep the program going year-round.

Supt. Meliton Lopez lauded the program, and has encouraged other districts serving the city to follow suit.

Now, Anaheim schools in the Magnolia and Centralia districts, and the entire Anaheim Union High School District, also are patrolled on weekends by the rangers.

George said because of the interest in the program, he needed to increase his staff from four or six rangers on weekends to eight.

The rangers, about half of whom are also Spanish-speaking, patrol the campuses by checking door locks and windows and talking to visitors who frequent the open campuses.

“A lot of our park facilities are adjacent to school sites, so it seemed a logical solution to their problems,” George said.

School districts throughout Orange County use a variety of methods to provide campus security. Several administrators say they are interested in watching the work of Anaheim’s ranger patrols.

In Santa Ana, a police substation operates out of a high school there, where officers patrol campuses and help school administrators in case of emergencies.

Ranger patrols are an interesting alternative to police, said district spokeswoman Diane Thomas. But she added that the police school resource officer is a valuable asset to the district, and serves as a resource for students and teachers in subjects ranging from self-defense to career decisions.

“The school board is just crazy about them,” Thomas said. “They’re like heroes on our campuses.”

In the Orange Unified School District, unarmed guards patrol campuses and have been helpful in rescuing scuba divers from a campus swimming pool and stopping kids from stacking school picnic tables in a neighbor’s back yard.

Nonetheless, spokeswoman Gayle Wayne said she is interested in what Anaheim schools are doing. “I think it’s a creative idea,” Wayne said.