Another Week in the Books

Hello everyone!

My third full week of law enforcement has come to an end and it contained some new experiences!

On my first work day I took a drive to Ventura to ride along at Channel Islands National Park. However, instead of car patrol I did boat patrol with a ranger named Tim! This was a bran new experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We were out on the water looking for fishing violations which was interesting. Even though we did not find anything the experience of being out on the boat was good enough for me. We still got to have friendly contacts with people riding along and the trip was full of beautiful views and animals such as sea lions and pelicans. It was also neat picking Tim's brain about how exactly he approaches making stops on boats (it sounded pretty stressful). After the patrol I even got to briefly meet the superintendent and have a conversation with the chief ranger of Channel Islands. It was great that he let me pick his brain for a little bit even though he was incredibly busy (he just transferred to Channel Islands 2 weeks ago). Overall it was a great experience!

Me in front of the arch! Apparently this is a popular tourist picture around the island.

Sea lions hanging out!

This is the boat that Tim and I patrolled on.

Inside the boat

Beautiful view from the boat!

The next day was fourth of July and I had the opportunity to ride along with a ranger at Santa Monica named Eric. We made a few really good contacts with people asking for directions, asking questions about the trails, asking about the history, and casual conversations. There were only a few violations such as people flying drones in an unauthorized area that we ran into. The fourth of July was actually a pretty slow day when it came to contacting people for violations so we did other jobs such as making sure trails are walkable and drivable. It was also awesome to be able to ride along with Eric because he actually just got back from FLETC (federal law enforcement training center). So not only did I get to see another way of going about law enforcement but I also got to ask him questions about FLETC. He was incredibly helpful and gave me advice that I will take with me for when my time comes.

On the next few days of the work week I went back with Brandon. These few days were honestly a slower when it came to law enforcement (which is why I am combining the two days). We only had a few contacts that were noteworthy. Brandon wrote a ticket for a parking violation, a ticket for an expired license plate, and a warning for an illegal photoshoot. Besides the contacts I also had a job of hiking a closed trail marking the signs that burned and need replacement. Other than that it was a quieter few days that we just spent patrolling around. However, even on these days where we don't have very many contacts it is still a good time because Brandon has endless stories from his 20+ years of being in law enforcement.