PAUL L. ALLEN
Tucson Citizen
July 29, 2002

Remembering 'Chappie'

The Arizona Rangers are about to ride again - officially recognized and replete with hats, badges, guns, even an occasional horse.
But they are not law enforcement officers, have no police investigative authority, and have no more power to make an arrest than your average Joe.
As a result of Gov. Jane Hull's signing of House Bill 2539 recently, the Arizona Rangers will officially become, on Tuesday, an "unpaid, noncommissioned civilian auxiliary" available to assist and support bona fide law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
"It has taken four years of trying to overcome many of the problems, the chasms between law enforcement and the Rangers, and the unfamiliarity of the northern part of the state with the Rangers," said Ranger Col. Rich Schloss, state commander of the force.
"The Rangers were the single most instrumental force in Arizona becoming a state. They cleaned it up, made it so Arizona was accepted into the union. This was a lawless land at the turn of the century, one of the last remaining frontiers. There were great hiding places in Arizona."
Dave K. Bruce, a sergeant with the Tucson detachment and head of the midtown office of the Rangers' Law Enforcement Support and Assistance Services, started campaigning for official state recognition soon after joining the Rangers in 1990.
"When I first came into the Rangers, I figured we had to get out of the 'cowboy social club' mode or we would ultimately just go away," said Bruce, a former local and federal law enforcement officer and now lead faculty member for Pima Community College's Administration of Justice Department, East Campus.
Arizona Rangers had their beginning as a territorial police agency in 1901, formed primarily to deal with cattle-rustling problems and general lawlessness in the southeastern area of the state. They were so successful that they literally worked themselves out of a job and were disbanded in February 1909 when the Legislature overrode the governor's veto.
Another factor helped hasten their demise, Bruce said. The Legislature had bowed to pressure from women's groups to make gambling and prostitution illegal, but sheriffs' departments were reluctant to enforce the unpopular laws - leaving that task to the Rangers.
After the Rangers were disbanded, sporadic efforts were made to re-form them - if not as a law enforcement group, then as a social organization. In 1953, three-term Cochise County Sheriff Jack William Howard was a catalyst in reorganizing the Rangers as a law enforcement support and assistance organization.
They briefly were given law enforcement and investigative authority, but when the state began requiring certification of law enforcement officers, that aspect was withdrawn.
Some, including Bruce, wished to be taken more seriously and decided to "clean up the image." Those efforts included requiring training that would earn respect from law enforcement.
Each member pays $24 in annual dues and is expected to provide his or her own uniform, firearms and gear, patches, badges and other duty equipment - as were the original Rangers.
The original Ranger detachments were limited to 26 members, and only 109 individuals served during their eight-year existence. Membership in the modern Rangers is open to both male and female members, estimated to number 300 in 17 companies around the state. They include current and retired military and law enforcement, doctors, lawyers and other professionals - a good cross section of the work force, according to Schloss.
"We're proud of the fact that to date, 14 individuals who began as members of the Arizona Rangers have gone on into careers in law enforcement - used the Rangers as a steppingstone. We're very proud of that fact."
Bruce said he hopes official state recognition will open the door to additional training by agencies that want to use their services.
"It's difficult for sheriffs outside the major metropolitan areas to maintain volunteer forces. They have to train them, maintain discipline and those sorts of things. With the Rangers, we already have the skills. Why reinvent the wheel?"

Current Arizona Rangers training requirements
 

Volunteer duties (minimum eight hours per month required) can include:

(Rangers are paid a "reasonable amount" for these services, providing the organization with operating funds. Service for nonprofit agencies is provided free.)

Arizona Rangers facts