New York State Forest Rangers

New York State Forest Rangers
Patch of the New York State Forest Rangers.
Agency overview
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	State of New York, USA
Size	54,555 square miles (141,300 km2)
Population	19,297,729
Legal jurisdiction	New York
General nature	Law enforcement Civilian police
Specialist jurisdiction	Environment, parks, and-or heritage property.
Operational structure
Forest Rangers	134
Assistant Forest Rangers	34
Website
Official Site
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The New York State Forest Rangers are law enforcement officials of the Division of Forest Protection of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Forest Rangers are New York State police officers, authorized to enforce New York State Laws, Rules and Regulations, and carry firearms.^[1]

Forest Rangers fulfill the role of police officers, wildland firefighters and wilderness first responders. Their duty is to protect the state's forests and the people who use them from danger. Forest Rangers patrol 4,300,000 acres (17,400 km²) of Department-administered public lands and easements by vehicle, boat, ATV, snowmobile, aircraft, bicycle, foot, skis or snowshoes. Each ranger is required to reside within the ranger district in which she/he is assigned but emergencies and special events will require them to work anywhere and at anytime. Rangers are often asked to assist other agencies with complex emergency or law enforcement incidents that have occurred in or near a forested area. Since New York state consists of 18,600,000 acres (75,000 km²) of forested lands, rangers are busy year-round.^[2]

The New York State Forest Ranger force is composed of 134 forest rangers, lieutenants, captains and directors stationed at locations across the state, with the greatest numbers located in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks.^[3]

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the New York State Forest Rangers, 1 ranger has died in the line of duty. ^[4]

Officer	Date of Death	Details
Forest Ranger Raymond L. Murray	Friday, October 9, 1970	Aircraft accident

See also

• History of the New York State Forest Rangers
• List of law enforcement agencies in New York

References

1. ^ http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/732.html
2. ^ http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/41086.html
3. ^ http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/41086.html
4. ^ The Officer Down Memorial Page

External links

• Official website