An online petition seeking to compel the Bureau of Land Management to review its law enforcement practices at the Imperial Sand Dunes has attracted more than 1,000 signatures since it was created less than two months ago. Accompanying many of the 1,340 signatures are descriptive accounts of incidents that supporters suggest is evidence of over-aggressive policing.
A dunes enthusiast for the past 30-plus years, Yuma resident Lance Ricotta said he created the
Change.org petition after much deliberation and frustration. The petition, which is intended to be delivered to federal lawmakers, simply states: “Change the behavior of BLM officers in the Imperial Valley.”
“It got to the point I got fed up with it,” Ricotta said. “Every day (BLM rangers) are out there they’re treating people like second-class citizens.”
While acknowledging that there are “bad apples” among visitors that require the presence of law enforcement officials, Ricotta said the BLM’s policing has generated fear and animosity among visitors. With the sluggish economy and recent fee increases keeping visitorship below previous years’ totals, a wide perception of over-aggressive policing could only serve to drive more potential visitors away.
“Someone, somewhere needs to sit (the BLM rangers) in a room and remind them they work for the public,” Ricotta said. Harassment and unconstitutional searches and seizures seem to be a common theme among comments left by the petition’s online supporters. The occasional reference to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo is not uncommon either.
A decades-long ISDRA visitor, Fontana resident Edward Niemela can be found up to 10 days of the month at the dunes during the season.
As much as he enjoys the place, the BLM’s policing practices have left him soured on the whole experience. Last year he had thought of no longer coming to recreate, but reconsidered.
“It’s my lifestyle,” he said. “Why should I give that up.”
In contrast to policing efforts that focused on riff-raff about 10 years ago, the 53-year-old Los Angeles city firefighter said it is law-abiding families that seem to bear the brunt of BLM’s policing now.
As a result, the word has gotten out among visitors to get “all their ducks in a row” in order to be in compliance with laws and regulations, he said. Yet that hasn’t improved the situation in his opinion.
“Now it’s getting worse,” he said. “They’re fishing.”...
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2 comments:
FLPMA provides a law enforcement remedy for federal agencies such as the BLM and USFS if they, in fact, need law enforcement assistance.
Sec. 303 (1) and (2) of the Act in the Session Laws (see also in 43 USC 1733) includes: “When the Secretary determines that assistance is necessary in enforcing Federal laws and regulation relating to the public lands or their resources, he shall offer a contract to appropriate local officials having law enforcement authority within their respective jurisdictions with the view of achieving maximum feasible reliance upon local law enforcement officials in enforcing such laws and regulations. . . . (2) . . , Such cooperation may include reimbursement to a state or its subdivisions for expenditures incurred by it in connection with activities which assist in the administration and regulation of use and occupancy of the public lands.”
Thanks, I've pointed to that section of FLPMA many times on this blog, but appreciate you pointing it out again. It appears to me the BLM only
uses that provision to transfer small amounts to local authorities to sort of buy them off. When I was an official at Interior we tried to emphasize that provision by preventing BLM officers from carrying weapons. That was a different era of course.
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