Park police shift set to begin soon

Transforming the North Little Rock park rangers into park police officers will begin “in the near future,” the North Little Rock Police Department said Wednesday.

“The Park Rangers are currently conducting patrols,” a spokesperson for the Police Department said in an e-mail. “In the near future, the Park Rangers will be issued firearms and will receive training and state certifications. The training and certification process should not take long to complete. However, an exact date has not been determined at this time.”

The North Little Rock City Council approved a plan on Monday to create park police officer positions in the Police Department.

The positions will come from park ranger positions, which will be eliminated, according to the ordinance.

The idea to establish park police officers come from the fact that park rangers “regularly encounter situations” that require a law enforcement officer. City code prohibits a park ranger from being armed.

Park police officers will be under the wing of the Police Department “as specialized police personnel,” trained as law enforcement officers and authorized to enforce state laws “as well as to issue citations for violations of the North Little Rock Municipal Code and North Little Rock municipal ordinances,” according to the ordinance.

The park police officers’ enforcement powers will be “limited to the areas in which they work, which shall only include North Little Rock city parks, Argenta Plaza, the Downtown RV Park, and the River Trail,” the ordinance states.

North Little Rock has 35 community parks, including Burns Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the nation, with about 1,700 acres.