DCR parks truck fleet citing abuse

Ranger allegedly used lights during nor’easter

The scandal-plagued Department of Conservation and Recreation has abruptly grounded its entire fleet of park ranger trucks after top brass discovered a ranger using his blue emergency lights during a recent nor’easter, the Herald has learned.

The extraordinary move to take the 22 state trucks out of service is the latest incident involving the alleged misuse of emergency lights in Gov. Charlie Baker’s parks and recreation agency.

Sources said DCR made the decision to take all the trucks out of service and replace the emergency lights after a top official saw a ranger using his during the storm last week that dumped up to 18 inches of snow in some parts of the state.

A DCR spokesman refused to say what prompted the grounding of the fleet of trucks, but two sources in the agency said Commissioner Leo Roy pulled the plug after witnessing what he felt was an abuse of the emergency lights.

Roy’s move has infuriated state park rangers, who say they do law enforcement work and need them on the road during emergencies. Rangers also have been forced to do desk work or use other vehicles while the trucks are being outfitted with new lights.

The Baker administration has sought to clamp down on the use of emergency lights after a top DCR official was caught last year using his sirens and lights to evade traffic.

The official, Deputy Commissioner Matthew Sisk, a prominent state Republican party activist, was forced to resign after an internal investigation. The incident was a political embarrassment for Baker.

DCR officials, in response to questions from the Herald, would only confirm the rangers’ trucks have been temporarily sidelined. Sources said the emergency lights are being replaced by cautionary yellow lights instead.

“To comply with state law, the Department of Conservation and Recreation is currently outfitting state ranger vehicles with the appropriate lights and will deploy them back into the fleet for patrols in the next few weeks,” said communications director Troy Wall.

“The agency has pooled properly equipped vehicles and reassigned other vehicles to allow the Ranger Bureau to continue their duties and responsibilities,” Wall said.

Sources told the Herald that the park rangers were informed months ago that they weren’t allowed to use their emergency lights, but they were never removed from the vehicles.

The dispute over the lights is the latest to hit the DCR, which has been plagued by charges of political influence and patronage hiring.

Roy himself was suspended for a week after he helped arrange a Boston Pops Fourth of July outing for Republican activists and used DCR golf carts to ferry around guests to the Esplanade.

The department overseeing DCR, the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, also was rocked last year by a Herald report that a DCR staffer and an EEA administrator tried to punish a worker for the state Environmental Police whose fiance ran as a Democrat against a Republican state senator.

The report led to the ouster of EEA chief operating officer Michael Valanzola, a former GOP candidate, and his cousin, Jared Valanzola, who worked for the DCR.