Getting back to nature: Sonoma County park rangers stripped of law enforcement duties

Sonoma County park rangers will no longer be designated peace officers after a change approved by the county board of supervisors this past week that will reclassify them as public officers starting in August.

Primary law enforcement duties in parks will be performed by a new team from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s deputies and local police already make arrests in the county’s parks, according to Regional Parks Department Director Bert Whitaker, who said there have been zero arrests made by park rangers within the last decade that involved a cuffing, detention, and jail booking.