Shore Traffic

Facing Northbound, from the bridge, a view of the park entrance
where traffic funnels in from Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright

Welcome back Blog Fans! After reading my last blog, the term “Shore Traffic” ought to ring a bell, but I am not sure of how much significance the term carries in land locked states. Surely the core meaning is universal to anyone living near any type of attraction. Since we last spoke, I have become “Traffic North” at Sandy Hook, or as dispatch now knows me, “593”. That is right, the intern is moving up in the world. Traffic Ranger Savitt gave me a brief run down of what the role entails and commonalities in different parking lots. On weekdays, Ranger Savitt is usually helping visitors via jump starts, lockouts, and providing some emergency gasoline. He will also report any illegal activity that he runs into and will check on medical calls. On weekends when things get busy, things get tricky. Lots fill quickly and are counted almost constantly to give supervisors an idea of how close the park is to reaching capacity. Parking lots which are full are closed but still monitored so they can be reopened once a reasonable number of spaces are empty. Of course, on top of this, with more visitors, comes more visitor assists. As “Traffic North” I was able to ease the burden by patrolling lots L through M on the Northern end of the park which includes Gunnison lot. Gunnison is a very popular beach, so the Gunnison lots along with its overflow parking can fill rapidly. Fortunately, this assignment gave me plenty of opportunities to speak over the radio and it provided plenty of visitor contacts. Initially it was intimidating to determine whether or not to close the Gunnison lot, because the result is a change in traffic flow. Once the nearby overflow lot would fill, the traffic pattern would really change because I would have to shut down the road to both of those lots and send the visitors further North to less occupied beach parking lots. Closing the road prevents visitors from making a pointless trip down the road to only be met with closed parking lots. This is where I had most of my interactions with visitors. I am happy to report that they were overwhelmingly positive interactions. I was also able to assist a few visitors by providing jump starts and watched Savitt perform a lockout. Having a background in towing helped me there.

Closing the Fishing Beach parking lot early in the day.

Closure of Gunnison Road Westbound at Gunnison Rd. and Atlantic Dr.  due to overflow lot being full.

Making visitor contacts to aid in their navigation towards the closest available lot or another site.

A portion of the packet we reviewed in conjunction
with the slideshow.

My next highlight would be following along with Taser training which was provided for one of the new seasonals as she works towards earning her commission. Once again, it has been great to talk to yet another new seasonal about their experience so far with the National Park Service. Everything about the Taser training was shocking, no pun intended. The presentation itself was very in depth and I learned of so many factors to be considered in its deployment, of which I had no clue about beforehand. One being targeting. Beyond body parts to avoid, the user must consider the distance from the target to achieve a wide enough probe spread. Removal the probes is also something I was introduced to. As an E.M.T. in New Jersey I had not learned that before. Tasers are relatively rare in New Jersey. The Taser itself records a lot of user data. After drawing on still targets, Supervisory Ranger Antczak had Ranger Casanova practice some rapid reloading drills and drawing on an approaching target. I have heard of both types of drills with firearms so it was cool to see it in action.

Inspecting the emergency lights during our vehicle check.

Most recently, I have been doing ride along`s with Ranger Hayes. We would start the day by conducting a vehicle check, which I had only done once before. Checking your patrol vehicle in the morning ensures that all your equipment is functional, clean, safe, and ready for work. A full tank of gas is ideal along with proper tire inflation. Emergency lighting and sirens are tested. The backseat is checked for cleanliness, damage, and any loose items. The firearms are checked. Typically, rangers will grab a P.B.T. (Preliminary Breath Test) along with an A.E.D. (Automated External Defibrillator) at least, if not more medical supplies. In relation to the vehicles, I learned that some vehicles at Sandy Hook should have under inflated tires. 4x4 vehicles that are used on the beach will have under inflated tires because that provides more surface area to travel over the sand better. Vehicles that are pursuit rated also require pursuit rated tires. I did not know that pursuit rated tires existed! Also, there are Department of Interior vehicles and G.S.A. vehicles which basically impacts their maintenance and lifespan. Once we were on the road, we conducted a few traffic stops. The weekdays following this weekend brought us very few visitors, so our eyes had to be peeled for potential violations. Ranger Hayes does a great job of sharing what he has recently learned and has provided me the opportunity to learn from his past mistakes. We discussed driving behavior which could be an indication of impairment. Now I find myself paying close attention to every time someone hits the white or yellows lines. However, I find it impressive how much the rangers see happening inside a vehicle with just a passing glance. At one point we got out of the vehicle and patrolled the beach on foot. We made plenty of contacts, advising visitors of the tent ban on the beach, along with confiscating alcohol. As the days went on, Ranger Hayes learned that I had not been exposed to any type of resource violation yet, so we headed over to Fishing beach. Before hitting the beach, he described some of the local ocean life, the limitations, and where illegal activity usually takes place. Unfortunately, no one was catching anything! Despite this we were able to educate visitors and ourselves through contacts as we checked for their “Salt Water Registry”. Along with all of the activity recently there has been some down time as well. With an approaching court date, the law enforcement rangers and supervisors alike spent a lot of time writing and reviewing reports. Hopefully, I will get the chance to learn more about this and I.M.A.R.S. soon, but I did not want to slow them down with a deadline ahead. Instead I opened one of the new employee binders and read over some of RM-9, the Superintendents Compendium, and a Sandy Hook Field Collateral list. These readings might not be as exciting as physical experience, but they are crucial to a well developed understanding of the park and it`s law enforcement division.

Patrolling Fishing Beach in the latest 2020 beach attire with the "Fish Stick"

Reviewing RM-9

There is more to come so check back soon,

ProRanger Boyce