Women
in Natural Resources:
Thank you so much for making time for this interview.
Let’s start with the size of the National Park Service police
force. How large is the
force?
Teresa
Chambers:
Actually, my title is Chief of the United States Park Police.
There is no Park Service Police.
We are the National Park Service, and we have protection
rangers as well as the United States Park Police.
We have around
800 sworn positions, but we only have about 600 of them filled.
So, we’re stretched rather thin.
Our three main localities are here in Washington D.C., in New
York City, and in San Francisco.
We are, more or less, the urban component of the National Park
Service law enforcement team. The primary locations we work in are in the cities I
mentioned, where we’re protecting Ellis Island, Liberty Island, Fort
Wadsworth, Federal Hall and other locations in New York City; and Fort
Mason and the whole Golden Gate National Regional Park in the San
Francisco area. The
United States Park Police also protect many of our “national
treasures” in Washington D.C., including the Washington Monument,
Lafayette Park and the White House, and the Lincoln and Jefferson
Memorials.
We also have
captains spread throughout the country that act as liaisons.
There are 386 national park units.
The bulk of those are protected by law enforcement rangers.
Our captains serve as liaisons, so if there are resources that
the rangers need, or training issues, or any kind of interaction
needed between the Superintendents and Regional Directors of the Park
Service, and the United States Park Police, those captains are there
to facilitate that interaction.
WiNR: What kind of
training do the officers take? Is
it similar to training that police officers on city forces go through?
Chambers: Yes, the
training is very similar. We
have a six-month academy in Georgia at the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center. We also
have more specific training. That
is, trainees go through the general training curriculum for federal
officers, but also go through a more specific Park Police curriculum
that integrates what we need for our officers.
Once they go back to their units, they are also with a field
training officer for about another three months.
So, it takes the better part of a year to have an officer go
through the entire training process.
WiNR: Do you have
specific requirements for admitting people into the training program?
Chambers: Yes, we do.
We aren’t too specific about what would eliminate a person,
because we want applicants to be totally honest with us when applying.
Frankly, though, we are simply looking for people of impeccable
character. We are looking for people with moral character that may be
above the norm.
WiNR: What about
academic backgrounds, or other professional training and experience?
What are you looking for?
Chambers: We prefer
that our applicants have college education, but this is not an
absolute requirement. It
will help an applicant get an edge as they move through the interview
process, and it certainly helps with promotions, but it is just one
part of the overall package an applicant presents to us and so it is
not an absolute requirement. We
do require a high school diploma.
WiNR: What is your
professional background?
Chambers: I spent 21
years in the Prince Georges County Police Department in the Washington
D.C. area, and actually retired from that job in 1997.
I was a Major in that Police Department when I retired.
I then moved on to be Chief of Police in Durham, North
Carolina, where I served until I became Chief of U.S. Park Police in
February 2002.
In Prince
Georges County, I got experience in just about every component of
police work. I spent a
lot of my time in patrol, both as an officer and in a command
position. The remainder of my experience there was in training and
administration. I worked
for a while as a training instructor, and had a stint as training
commander, as well.
WiNR: What is your
academic background?
Chambers: I have a
Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland in
Criminology and Law Enforcement.
I went to school after I was hired by the police department in
Prince Georges County. So,
as a young police officer, I also went to school part-time, taking
courses in between studying for promotions.
I also have a
Master of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
I was in a new program, working toward earning a master’s in
Applied Behavioral Science. The program had a subtitle; Police Executive Leadership
Program. It was
spearheaded by the Police Executive Leadership Forum in partnership
with Johns Hopkins University.
I actually
helped to build this unique master’s program.
I was on the advisory team that looked at what we needed to
know as commanders that we hadn’t gotten on the job or through
in-house training in our departments.
At first, it wasn’t going to be a degree program.
We simply wanted to have some training resources available for
upper-level police managers. But,
when we met with the Dean and his staff at Johns Hopkins, and they
advised us that we could develop the program into a graduate degree
program.
Our advisory
team selected courses already available at the university, with an eye
towards what we thought was useful to us as police commanders.
We came back with about 400 hours of courses!
The Dean and the university staff helped us build a fast-paced
program that combined the best of all these courses into newly titled
courses. The first group
of students to move through the program included some of members of
the original advisory committee, and so I was able to earn my degree
and help others by piloting this unique program.
A student can
only be admitted to this program through recommendation of his or her
Chief of Police. The
program takes 20 months, and involves attending classes every other
Friday and Saturday, all day. Many
departments cannot afford to pay for full tuition for students, but
often there is in-kind compensation.
For instance, one of my officers is currently enrolled, and
every other week, when she attends school Friday and Saturday, then
she gets Sunday and Monday off from work, so that she does have time
to rest and recoup.
What is so very
unique about this program is that although a group of police
executives helped to craft it, it is not a police course.
It is an applied behavioral science course. It is not at all what you might think of when you think
“police + college,” that is, criminology and law enforcement. It’s about running a business; budgeting, dealing with
diversity and community issues, and all the other factors that
leadership involves. Academics
are married with real life in this program, too.
Real case studies are brought to the classroom by the students,
using anonymity and confidentiality, and so they are able to
problem-solve for their agencies, while learning.
WiNR: How old is
the program, and has it been emulated elsewhere?
Chambers: The first
graduating class came through in 1996.
I think it will be emulated—there is keen interest around the
country. Also, the
program has now been expanded to include a bachelor’s program.
WiNR: Do you have
any natural resources background?
Chambers: No, I
don’t, so I am learning every day.
I really enjoy it! As
I travel for the agency, I try to visit national parks, and learn what
I can. A few weeks ago I
was in Yosemite, and had a chance to increase my understanding of the
role park rangers play in management.
I have a much greater appreciation now of the level at which
rangers have to understand the both the natural resources and the
cultural resources of the parks, the protection aspects of both, and
the educational aspects.
Just this past week I was in Seattle for a conference, and
found time to visit Olympic National Park, Mt. Rainier National Park,
and North Cascades National Park.
As always, I came away with renewed respect for the fantastic
job the National Park Service employees do.
WiNR: Can you tell
us about how law enforcement differs in a park setting from an urban
setting?
Chambers: From the Park
Police perspective, I would say that there are more similarities than
differences. And, I think
there really is no better proving ground for community policing, a
current tool of many urban police forces, than our parks.
In a national park you have a superintendent, rangers and other
personnel who are responsible for that park, and, like any city, there
is also a tourist population. Both
the resident and visitor groups are our customer base.
Whether they live and work there or come to visit, they can
help drive our initiatives and help us focus.
So, community
policing is at the core of what our Park Police do. I also think that even though the rangers may not be trained
to recognize what they do as community policing, that is truly what
they are doing. They
listen to the campers, the hikers, and all those using the park, and
find out what it is that those visitors need the rangers to address.
In that way, police work in any national park is very similar
to police work in our nation’s cities and towns.
When the
national park is in an urban area, then the police work becomes even
more similar to that of an urban police agency.
There are three major commuter routes feeding into Washington
D.C.; the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, the Suitland Parkway, and the
George Washington Parkway. The
United States Park Police are responsible for traffic direction and
control, and accident investigation on these parkways.
One of my officers lost his life just a few nights ago during
an accident investigation on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
So, in our urban
parks we have the same issues that come up on city streets.
These include occasional drug trafficking problems and crimes
against persons. One
difference, though, is that in our parks we have the luxury of not
being distracted by other calls for service, and to focus solely on
the park. This results in
a good track record with regard to keeping our parks safe.
WiNR: Can you tell
us more about the risk involved for United States Park Police?
Chambers: Unfortunately,
the National Park Service took a double hit just over this past
weekend. While I was
traveling to the North Cascades National Park, I received a phone call
from one of our Deputy Directors informing me that one of our
protection rangers was gunned down chasing a drug suspect in Organ
Pipe National Park in Arizona. The park is on the U.S.-Mexico border, and Mexican
authorities had chased two people across the border.
Our young officer, Ranger Chris Eggle, assisted in the pursuit
and was ambushed. I
called back to headquarters in Washington D.C. to offer the assistance
of the United States Park Police, not knowing that just twelve hours
later I’d be making my own notifications.
By the end of that day, I was informed that Officer Hakim
Farthing was out assisting the investigation of an earlier
fatal accident on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, redirecting
traffic away from the area so that investigators could complete their
work. He was protected by
flares and traffic cones, but was hit by a drunk driver.
It was witnessed by several officers on the scene.
Officer Farthing was thrown some distance by the impact and was
instantly killed. The
officer had been with the United States Park Police just since October
2000.
Officer Farthing
left behind his mother and father, his sister, and his young son.
We have not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1988, and
as sad as that event was, that officer lost his life due to a heart
attack during a training exercise.
Prior to that, we had not lost an officer in the line of duty
since 1972. Our mood
here, then, is somber. As
a police force, we have really not had to witness the violent death of
one of our colleagues, and there is a lot of emotion here as we deal
with this.
But, as with any
police force, our officers have stepped up in the face of this
tragedy, doing whatever needs to be done to support the family of
Officer Farthing, and to support each other.
The policing network has grown over the years to help each
other when tragedy does strike. A
group called Concerns of Police Survivors, founded several decades
ago, makes sure that families don’t have to walk alone.
Law enforcement agencies have always striven to provide support
for families of officers who have lost their lives, but most of us
really cannot walk in their shoes, so to speak.
Most of us have never lost a family member to a law enforcement
death, though we may have lost coworkers to such a tragedy.
WiNR: Thank you for
sharing this with us. I’d
like to ask you about the U.S.-Mexico border.
I recently spent time on a detail to the Coronado National
Forest in the southwest. It
is the only National Forest that borders on Mexico.
The Forest Service, like many federal natural resource
agencies, is struggling with funding problems that impinge on
allocation of law enforcement resources where they are needed.
On the Coronado National Forest, I saw some incredible resource
damage to fragile ecosystems that were heavily impacted by illegal
immigration traffic. Can
you tell us about any unique problems you have in national parks in
that border area?
Chambers: Any of the
federal lands in that area that border on Mexico provide essentially
“open borders,” unlike the controlled border crossing areas.
It’s never been the focus of the Park Service to patrol the
border for immigrants. We
are having conversations with the U.S. Border Patrol about provision
of additional resources to the Department of the Interior to help
secure our borders. This
is an ever-increasing concern, and may become a concern of the Office
of Homeland Security. The
Park Service does not have the staffing to completely secure the
nation’s borders that are within the national parks.
WiNR: One of the
issues on the Coronado National Forest was the controversy surrounding
the deaths of some illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico,
particularly from dehydration and exposure.
Humanitarian organizations proposed setting up water stations
and painting them bright blue so they could be seen from a distance.
The National Park Service was also involved in this issue, and
was asked to give a permit for such a water station.
Do you have any comments?
Chambers: Park
Superintendents have the authority and oversight in permitting, and
law enforcement is not involved.
What I have observed, though, is that Superintendents and their
staff always consider First Amendment rights and other relevant law
and regulation when considering each issue.
And you’re right—sometimes it is controversial.
WiNR: Can you tell
us about some of the new and unique concerns that have impacted the
Park Service since September 11, 2001?
For instance, there was a high alert issued [in Summer 2002]
concerning threats to the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay
Area, and ongoing concern for the Statue of Liberty.
Chambers: Fortunately,
when the media leaked the potential for a terrorist attack on the
Golden Gate Bridge, the intelligence that this was based on was a day
or more old, and more current intelligence had already lead to a
de-escalation of that alert. But,
the event was indicative of the kinds of information that our agency
and others have to review on a daily basis as to credibility.
That type of in-depth analysis has always taken place, but now
it has new meaning.
And so, yes, we
are always on guard. But
the key to fighting terrorism in this country is not law enforcement,
but the citizens. Similarly,
in our National Parks, we recognize that all Park Service employees,
from the Superintendents to the maintenance workers, are all key to
meeting our law enforcement objectives of providing a safe environment
for employees and visitors. If
each of us takes on personal responsibility, when “something just
doesn’t look right,” of bringing it to the attention of law
enforcement personnel, we do have a chance of averting another
tragedy.
WiNR: Do you have
any dealings with the Capitol Police?
Chambers: Yes, we have
regular dealings with both that agency and Metropolitan Police
Department in the District. For
instance, most events that occur on the National Mall cross
jurisdictions. Similarly, events and people often move from city streets
into the parklands we patrol, and the opposite is also true.
About 23% of Washington D.C. is national parkland.
As National Park Service helicopter pilots like to say here,
when you look out the window of the chopper, anything you see that’s
green is ours! United States Park Police have full authority in Washington
D.C., and so action by our officers, when needed, is seamless.
We don’t have to worry about whether we have crossed any
particular jurisdictional line.
WiNR: Currently,
there is a trend throughout the federal government to contract out
some responsibilities as one way of reducing costs.
Recently, someone unkindly asked, “Why does the National Park
Service have to have the largest lawn mowing force in the world?”
In response to this criticism, I think that the national park
lands in the capitol are beautifully maintained and are a real credit
to the nation. Can you
comment, though, on this out-sourcing trend and what it might mean for
the United States Park Police?
Chambers: I know that
Director Fran Mainella is very sincere about thoroughly investigating
competitive sourcing for the National Park Service. Questions to ask when examining any action or process
include, are we doing it less expensively?; can we change some things
and do it less expensively?; or, are we doing it more efficiently and
effectively?
The United
States Park Police don’t have many things that we can out-source,
honestly, but I do know that this is an important issue throughout the
National Park Service. One
example of competitive sourcing with our agency, though, is that we
have contract guards working at some points in the Capitol.
For instance, at the Washington Monument we have security
guards helping with screening visitors.
It does not take an officer trained in accident investigation,
rape investigation, and the many other kinds of police work, to screen
visitors. It is a much better use of resources to hire security guards
for this work.
WiNR: It is
common in federal natural resource agencies to be required to move
relatively often during your career if you want to “move up.” For
the average officer, is
there much need to move around to advance in their careers?
Chambers: It changes
from administration to administration.
In the past, moving to different geographic areas has not been
the norm in the United States Park Police, but we are a nationwide
organization and we need to start thinking about greater movement
among areas for our officers. My
own philosophy is that if an officer does not take personal
responsibility to move, then we do need to nudge them along, to foster
career advancement. My
own mentors made sure that I moved into positions that were useful in
terms of training and experience, even if I didn’t want or like them
enough to seek them out on my own.
For instance, I had no interest at all in personnel
management—to me, that was the furthest thing from being a cop!
But, I did work in that area for a time.
Not only did it give me an appreciation of that management
area, it made me “marketable” when I wanted to apply for jobs as
Chief.
So, it is the
responsibility of the agency to make sure employees have a chance to
excel and achieve. The
way to make that happen is to make sure employees have a wide array of
skills, which are acquired by moving around.
That doesn’t necessarily mean moving between different field
offices, but it can.
WiNR: Can you tell
us about your professional plans and ambitions?
You have been in place for some years in your career in the
Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
Do you think you will stay in this area, or do you think you
might work in another geographic area someday?
Chambers: For me, every
option is always open. The
last four years I was in Durham, North Carolina.
That area is only a four-hour drive from Washington D.C., but
that had personal challenges for me because I have aging parents and
in-laws still in this area. So,
coming “back home” to Washington was important to me and my
husband.
Without any
doubt, this is the very best uniformed law enforcement job in the
world! I have the
opportunity to protect the President and his residence, which is on
park property; to protect the presidential retreat at Camp David; to
protect the American icons that mean “freedom” to all of us—it
is truly a privilege. I have found that I rediscovered the patriotism that was
instilled in me as a little girl.
I never knew how important it was to me, until I had a chance
to compete for this job. The
United States Park Police is the oldest federal uniformed law
enforcement agency in the country.
We are 211 years old.
So, if there’s
another job out there that’s right for me, I think it will just have
to find me—I’m not looking! It’s
an honor to wear this uniform.
Daina
Dravnieks Apple, a natural resource economist, recently became
Administrator of Workplace Relations, a senior management position in
the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Office in California.
Her prior assignments include water resource policy analysis on
the Policy Analysis Staff, and National Forest System strategic
planner on the Resources Program and Assessment Staff.
She has served as Assistant Regulatory Officer in the
Washington Office, and as Regional Appeals Coordinator, and on the
Engineering staff in Region 5, San Francisco.
She began her Forest Service career as an Economist at the
Pacific Southwest Research Station, Berkeley.
Her
B.Sc. in Political Economy of Natural Resources, and her M.A. in
Geography are both from the University of California, Berkeley.
She is a Follow of the Society of American Foresters and served
as Chair of the National Capital Society of SAF.
She is also a Fellow of Phi Beta Kappa and served as President
of Northern California Association, and as National Secretary.
She is a member of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.