Pubdate: Thu, 28 Aug 2003
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Copyright: 2003 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.thedailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Robert Gehrke

DANGER RISING FOR FEDERAL LAND OFFICERS, GROUP SAYS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Patrolling federal lands is becoming more and more 
dangerous, a group tracking attacks on the officers said Wednesday, citing 
two park rangers killed in the line of duty in 2002 and an overall increase 
in threats and violence.

A list of incidents last year includes a park ranger killed along the 
Mexican border, officers who were shot at by a marijuana farmer, a run-in 
with a chainsaw-wielding tree poacher, and a slew of threats and intimidation.

"These aren't just low-level arguments that escalated. These are people who 
are willing to enact pretty hard-core violence," said Eric Wingerter, 
national field director for the group Public Employees for Environmental 
Responsibility.

"A number of these incidents stem from a growing, simmering anti-government 
sentiment that is particularly growing in the West," he said.

The statistics and anecdotal evidence compiled by the group show an 
increase in acts of violence and intimidation in three federal land 
agencies - the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land 
Management.

In the national parks, attacks against rangers declined slightly from the 
2001 levels, although PEER thinks that may reflect inadequate reporting.

An accurate comparison is impossible, the group concedes, because the 
federal agencies have no uniform reporting system and the Justice 
Department, which is supposed to track the figures, does not.

As a result, PEER had to file open records requests with each agency, and 
in some cases with each regional office, to obtain the information.

The lack of uniform reporting was among the criticisms leveled in a report 
last year by Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney. The report 
said drastic changes were needed in the department's law enforcement 
operation, and Devaney told Congress in January that the department was not 
moving with an appropriate sense of urgency.

Interior Department spokesman Mark Pfeifle said the department is 
increasing its emphasis on law enforcement, providing intensive training on 
how to deal with dangerous situations and putting more officers in its most 
dangerous areas.

"We've doubled the number of officers on the southern border. We've asked 
for and received several million dollars in each of the last couple fiscal 
years to focus on officer safety, communication equipment upgrades and 
training," Pfeifle said.

Randall Kendrick, executive director of the U.S. Park Ranger Lodge of the 
Fraternal Order of Police, which represents park rangers, said rangers are 
still being sent into the field with inadequate equipment or backup, but 
things are getting better.

In 2002, park ranger Kris Eggle was shot to death at Organ Pipe Cactus 
National Monument along the Mexican border while trying to help apprehend a 
pair of murder suspects who had fled across the border.

A day later, U.S. Park Police officer Hakim Farthing was killed by a 
drunken driver on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

Other acts against the federal law enforcement officials include:

A wildlife officer in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the 
Pacific Northwest was trying to stop three people who had reportedly been 
cutting down old-growth trees. One suspect brandished a running chain saw 
and threatened the officer. He was subdued with pepper spray and arrested.

A shot was fired at officers in Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas as 
they inspected a marijuana patch. They returned later with a search 
warrant. The suspect committed suicide 11 days later.
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