Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Polly Hanson: You have the gamut from the United States Park Police, who are a traditionally
urban law enforcement presence. Where they would be doing crowd control for President
Obama's inauguration, which was the biggest, singular public event in our nation's history.
Then other events where they are trying to manage free speech activities, many times
from two different groups that have very different point of views. Recently they were in the
media because of the Occupy groups. You had folks from both political entities, and local
governments, and citizens, questioning why people should be allowed to essentially take
over a national park. Once again, they are balancing the right of people to express their
free speech, which is a cornerstone of what our country's about and one of their primary
missions. Then you can contrast that with Bureau of Indian Affairs Officers, some who
are in such remote locations, they don't have computer access. They have to get to their
assignments on horseback or be dropped by helicopter. They're dealing with both a residential
situation, where they're responding to victims of crimes, because people live on reservations,
and all sorts of community policing issues, that resolve out of both social situations
that are common to communities. Then you have the Fish and Wildlife, or BLM
Officers, who are concerned with protecting the resources that are either natural or wildlife;
the special agents with the fish, who are experts in endangered species and the laws
that protect many of those species. And of course, the incredible laboratory they have,
that has DNA related to these species. They're nationally and internationally known source
matter experts on wildlife. Just the portfolio of the expertise and activities,
from First Amendment, to endangered species, to archaeological sites, to protecting the
icons that you recognize, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell. Our national parks that
have such high visitation and such a glorious point in our history, with people recreating,
and how that's an important American activity, to recreate, and to camp, to ski and hike.
The conversation about the great danger that our rangers put themselves through when they
go rescue our visitors who have either fallen, or gotten lost, or have got in a circumstance
in a park, where someone has to put their life on the line to go rescue them. That's
just a tip of the ice point, where all these activities, that the different law enforcement
components participate in and the various ways that they protect the resources of the
Department of the Interior.