Santa Cruz park rangers now on patrol downtown
Park rangers who used to oversee city parks and open spaces have now turned their attention to Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz.
“We’ve already racked up quite a few citations,” said Santa Cruz Senior Ranger Jeremy Mathews. “Some of the people down here can be panhandlers and drunks, so we’re down here to alleviate that.”
With uniforms, batons and handcuffs, the rangers will walk the busy main strip every day, doing everything from answering questions about where to eat, to arresting the drunk and disorderly.
“We have a lot of very successful businesses and a lot of thriving cultural and art scene downtown,” said Scott Collins, assistant to the Santa Cruz city mananger. “We want to continue to promote that and make anybody who comes into the downtown area feel safe.”
The rangers are replacing First Alarm Security and the Downtown Host Program, whose leader is retiring. City officials said the Park Ranger Program will deliver the same services, just enhanced, because the rangers offer a unique perspective and experience and can do more than just give verbal warnings.
“They don’t carry guns but they carry everything else,” said Collins. “So if they need to they can subdue an individual who might be acting erratically or resisting citations. But our hope is they won’t need to do that.”
The city said the park rangers will also help out Santa Cruz police.
“Taking care of some of the stuff that they don’t want to waste a lot of time on when they have more calls that are more serious that they need to respond to,” said Matthews.
Some of the people we talked to believe park rangers’ should stick to patrolling parks. Others said the rangers presence makes them feel safer and will help to deter crime.
“I think this downtown is for everyone and it should be peaceful,” said downtown visitor Rita Chamoy. “If someone is not being peaceful, they should be removed.”
More rangers will be added to the roster this fall.
ORIGINAL STORY: Santa Cruz park rangers are now patrolling downtown city streets, enforcing codes and serving as ambassadors to the public. Tonight at 5 and 6, KION’s Maya Holmes will explain what else the city hopes to accomplish with the program.
