Louisville’s Park Ranger program is underway this summer, a program the city hasn’t had since the 1970s. Stepping in as Chief Park Ranger is James Brown, a 20-year law enforcement veteran who’s overseeing the program’s development and direction.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ayisha Jaffer: You've spent two decades in law enforcement. What drew you to this new role as Chief Park Ranger?
James Brown: Correct. I started in 2003 in Oldham County before I retired and came over here. One of the things that drew me to law enforcement is the service aspect and just the community interaction part. I'd spent many years utilizing or creating programs to do community outreach and community involvement and trying to bridge a gap, sometimes between law enforcement and the community as a whole.
I thought it was a great opportunity to create something because it's starting something new again to make it where it is more than just a basic law enforcement agency, but it's one that is a partnership with the parks and partnership with the community, and trying to do all of those functions that aren't just what people generally might consider of a law enforcement officer. This is more than that. This is being an ambassador to the community.
AJ: So Louisville hasn't had a park ranger program since the 1970s, what inspired its relaunch, and how would you describe its mission today?
JB: Absolutely. I have actually met one of those gentlemen who's still around, who's done it. So I got a chance a couple weeks ago to just talk to him and hear what he knew about it and his experiences.
But as far as today goes, I think it's just one of those things—when we say 'parks for all,' we mean that we want everyone to be able to utilize the parks. We want everyone to feel safe in the parks. There will be no barrier they would consider and say I don't want to go to the park because of this or because of that. So I think that is the true focus of this, and the true goal of creating this program is filling a void that wasn't there necessarily as park safety and security.
Everyone else has responsibilities, and sometimes, just maybe it wasn't getting the attention that it needed. And it led to some people who just didn't necessarily feel safe at the park, or that was the barrier for them to go to it. So if we can create an agency that is park centric and park focused, and is really only in those park things, we can change that perception for people, and then we can get people to come utilize the parks. And then when we are there again, we can ensure that everyone who is utilizing those parks is utilizing it correctly.
AJ: So Louisville has a lot of parks and public spaces, but your ranger team is starting out pretty small compared to programs in other cities. How do you plan to make an impact with the resources you have at hand? And what's the biggest priority right now? Or what are some of the biggest priorities right now?
JB: Well, one of the biggest things is just making sure that we have realistic expectations, like you said, there are 124 parks plus community centers. So even prior to when I was hired, the work that went into it was trying to establish and look at, where are the areas that have the most issues whether that's vandalism, trash, just the things that the park workers are dealing with. And then look at that again in conjunction with some other crime data or safety things.
There are four geographical maintenance districts in Louisville's parks. So it's trying to pick out some within each of those and making those the primary focus. If we attempted to make a giant impact in all 124 parks with one person, that's not possible. People would never think that we're there. They'd never seen us. So it's trying to focus on those areas that are geographically in close proximity. And that way, a ranger can be at 5-6-7-8-9 parks in that day, in that shift, where they're going between those two.
So it's trying to make sure that we set realistic goals for ourselves. How can we, with those resources, show proof of concept that this program is valuable and that it has a place in community safety and in parks in general.
