Since his hire five months ago, Michael Dobbs said he’s seen a stark difference in Bakersfield’s parks. He attributes a lot of that to conversation.
“It’s a lot about conversation,” Dobbs said. “When you commit to having a relationship with them and getting to know them, then you’re going to gain trust and that’s when you can start making a difference.”
Clad in black and athleisure shirts, khakis and kevlar, Dobbs, himself the city’s Park Ranger supervisor, and his colleagues — the newly formed city Ranger Division — stood before a small crowd Wednesday outside the Martin Luther King Park Community Center. The group, 18 strong, are the newest uniformed protectors of Bakersfield’s shared spaces.
“Every single child in the city of Bakersfield deserves to play in a safe and free playground and park — every single child,” Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales said. “Every single family deserves to have high-quality amenities in our parks.”
Parks are the crown jewels of cities. Since 2021, Bakersfield has invested $4 million in 12 parks throughout the city. The rangers, themselves a $2.4 million investment, will be tasked with protecting all the improvements and renovations made in the past couple of years.
“The park ranger program would not have been possible if not for the passage of the public safety and vital services initiative,” Gonzales said. “The voters of Bakersfield, the taxpayers of this city, deserve the credit for making this program possible.”
The paychecks, along with park improvements, are paid for by the Public Safety & Vital Services Measure N, the penny tax passed in 2018. After the measure’s oversight committee voted 6-2 in favor of the rangers, the City Council approved it unanimously in March 2022.
Dobbs leads his pack of 17 with his more than 20 years of law enforcement experience.
It is the hope of city officials that rangers will shoulder the responsibilities that previously encumbered city police. According to Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Director Rick Anthony, who manages the new division, that equates to quicker enforcement on a more consistent basis.
“Just their presence alone has deterred encampments and vandalism that have been entrenched in the culture of our public spaces,” Anthony said. “We have already seen a difference just in terms of cleanliness.”
In 2022, the Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Department spent an average of $15,000 a month on park repairs
“In the past we relied heavily on code enforcement to deal with encampments and other issues,” Anthony said. “Having this program is essential because we now have an arm of enforcement that we control and eyes on our assets.”
According to Anthony, most calls in 2022 were for encampments and vandalism, though two city employees were assaulted, something Anthony said sped up their timeline.
Since late September, the division has comprised 17 officers in total, including Dobbs and Administrative Analyst Walter Villa. The rest are staggered between Ranger I and II, rankings based on prior experience and pay.
Despite more than 326 applicants, Dobbs said they currently have two vacancies. He said many applicants didn’t understand the “totality of the job,” and “didn’t do their homework” on what they were looking for in a candidate.
“We didn’t want to settle and made sure we got the cream of the crop,” Dobbs said. “Everybody who applied had the qualifications; it’s just they didn’t meet the vision.”
Dobbs expects to begin another round of hiring as soon as next week.
About half of the division has some form of law enforcement background, Dobbs said, with several touting more than 20 years of experience. Others have experience working in social services or healthcare.
Their patrols, driven in seven single cab-V6 trucks, take in the sweep of humanity in 10-hour shifts, answering calls to the city’s 61 parks across its seven wards that were previously answered by city police.
That said, not all parks are created equal. Rangers will prioritize “high-need” parks that deal with more incidences, such as Beale Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
“They’re ripping urinals off the wall; They’re breaking sinks, they’re spray painting,” Dobbs said. “(It’s) based on where the largest amount of damage is being done.”
Dobbs said they will operate out of offices in Martin Luther King Community Center and Silver Creek Park, at least until they move into their headquarters at 3737 Stockdale Highway, which is under renovation.
Unlike city police, rangers do not carry guns. They instead come equipped with a collapsible baton, pepper spray and radio, which is wired into police radio channels. Dobbs said they hope to soon carry NARCAN, and have looked into the possibility of tasers.
“We are in the vetting process right now to check the risk associated with (tasers) and making sure that it’s a viable option for us,” Dobbs said.
As to whether rangers will wear body cams, Dobbs made the distinction that while there’s been discussion, rangers are “not peace officers” and it’s not a requirement.
“There’s been some conversations in the Safe Neighborhoods Committee meeting, but it’s not anything we’re looking into right now,” Dobbs said.
In their month-long academy, rangers were trained in self-defense tactics, de-escalation and the use of both baton and pepper spray. Additionally, Anthony said, rangers went on ride-alongs with city police. Dobbs said his division will go through bi-annual training, as one would in a police department.
While they may answer calls previously covered by police, and are certified to make arrests, rangers often may need to radio the Bakersfield Police Department and the City’s Code Enforcement officers for issues outside their purview.
“We’ve already had instances of mental health problems where they had to call people out,” Anthony said. “For the most part, (rangers) know how to handle themselves but when it comes down to it, they have resources available to them.”
Dobbs said that rangers were given 40 hours of training on mental health from Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.
“Our biggest thing is to act as a bridge until the appropriate people show up and can get them into places like Mary K. Shell or something like that,” Dobbs said. “It’s a lot about conversations.”
The rangers enter at the intersection of one of the city’s greatest problems: homelessness. And while expansions to city and county shelters are underway, the issue has spilled into public space. Dobbs made the point that simply being homeless in a park is not a crime. If anyone, he said, follows all park rules, they are welcome in that park, regardless of their situation.
“People think that when they see homeless people in parks, that they’re automatically breaking rules or doing something bad, and that’s not true,” Dobbs said. “We had a homeless man right on this bench when we showed up today and he had as much of a right to this bench as anybody else did. He wasn’t encamped, he wasn’t sleeping, he wasn’t breaking any rules.”
