Rangers
Last
year was filled with change for the Ranger organization. The Gate
operations expanded their patrols on the perimeter while refining
their work at the gate. The Ranger Operations and Training Department
completely reorganized its management and birthed a new department.
Emergency Services branched off on its own. Management of the entire
department was overseen by the head of Community
Services. Many meetings went late into the
night, and filled weekends, as the Ranger Council, comprising representatives
from all three departments, worked out the changes and tackled
the hot issues facing them in 2002.
Early in the year the position of Ranger Director opened, changing
the reporting structure of the department. Meetings progressed
with a Director Pro Tem, the current head of Community Services.
Then the Ranger Operations Department lost their manager. They
chose a consensus operating group to represent the department at
Council meetings. Creating LEAL,
the Law Enforcement Agency Liaison branch, and separating Emergency
Services, posed new challenges in reporting
and handling of event incidents. Defining who got called to what
scenes, and how serious situations like fence breaches from event
crashers should be handled, took time and energy to work out. Radio
channel allocations, use of departmental supplies and resources,
and in some cases simply deciding who was allowed to do what, became
large issues that had to be resolved before hitting the playa.
The team needed to re-learn how to work together. They took advantage
of the opportunity to create policies and procedures that work
cross-departmentally.
Change equals growth. Internally the year was full of struggles
that pushed some to their limits, but the commitment to the cause
was unwavering. The playa saw an operation filled with committed,
capable and eager Rangers, Emergency Services responders and
Gate and Perimeter staff, many of whom at the end of 2002 are stepping
forward into positions of leadership for 2003. There is a vitality,
productivity and creativity in these groups that is infectious.
New reporting structures and departmental names are just the
visible outlines of the development of a tighter team of volunteers committed
to the safety and well-being of all Burning Man participants.
Submitted by,
Harley K. DuBois
Click here to read the 2001 Rangers report. 