William Perry Pendley, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, wrote in a recent Las Vegas Review-Journal op-ed that the agency's law enforcement personnel will defer to local law enforcement officials, Jennifer Yachnin reports for Energy & Environment News.
The op-ed is all the more relevant after President Trump recently expanded a pilot program that sends national park rangers to the U.S.-Mexico border to help stop drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The move sparked concerns that visiting park rangers might step on the toes of local law enforcement. Pendley's op-ed appears to be an attempt to allay such fears.
"The bureau is reaching out to local sheriffs to ensure that rangers recognize that, although local law enforcement bears primary responsibility for enforcing state and federal law, Rangers are there to assist — lending their expertise to better local communities," Pendley wrote. "Rangers, therefore, partner with local law enforcement, while recognizing that counties are a governmental arm of sovereign states. Maintaining that deference is essential to making BLM a truly productive and valued partner to Western communities."
The op-ed is all the more relevant after President Trump recently expanded a pilot program that sends national park rangers to the U.S.-Mexico border to help stop drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The move sparked concerns that visiting park rangers might step on the toes of local law enforcement. Pendley's op-ed appears to be an attempt to allay such fears.
"The bureau is reaching out to local sheriffs to ensure that rangers recognize that, although local law enforcement bears primary responsibility for enforcing state and federal law, Rangers are there to assist — lending their expertise to better local communities," Pendley wrote. "Rangers, therefore, partner with local law enforcement, while recognizing that counties are a governmental arm of sovereign states. Maintaining that deference is essential to making BLM a truly productive and valued partner to Western communities."
Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Brown said Pendley's remarks don't signal a change in policy, but rather as a reminder of current policy. She also said the Interior is considering an overhaul of BLM's law enforcement, which now includes about 200 uniformed officers and 70 special agents who patrol 245 million acres of public lands, Yachnin reports. The scope of BLM rangers' authority has been controversial in Congress; several lawmakers have sought to overhaul or eliminate it, Yachnin reports.
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