SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane increased its number of park rangers from 10 to 15 members over the span of three years.
In the fall of 2019, Justin Worthington, the Spokane park ranger supervisor, said the decision to add more rangers came from an increase in calls from the community.
Worthington said the team received about 5,500 calls throughout its 87 parks from January through October, a “considerable increase” from previous years.
Worthington said the jump mainly came from expansions to Riverfront Park and an increase in visitors to the area. But he said the team also felt the need to add more rangers to other city parks.
“We determined that beyond just the safety of Riverfront Park, that our other city parks also needed an additional group of folks looking out for the safety of things,” he said.
One of the team’s priorities is to enforce H-1, an ordinance in place to prevent people from using park property for activities it wasn’t designed for.
“You can’t set up a gazebo inside the Red Wagon or some other sort of structure that would prevent people from being able to use it for what it was intended for,” Worthington said.
He said the enforcement also includes keeping people from camping in the park. The team has responded to calls about people who are homeless staying near the bank of the Spokane River or in park bathrooms.
“We do have to respond to reports of camps. What that usually looks like is if we see there is a structure built in a park, we’ll try to contact those folks and see what’s going on. That way we can guide them to difference resources,” Worthington said.
He said sleeping in the park isn’t illegal, as long as a person isn’t causing any disturbances.
“We’re here to help them,” he said. “We’re not just here to ruin somebody’s day.”
Worthington said the team also responds to minor calls ranging from people asking for directions to people drinking alcohol in the park.