Dear Editor:

Maine's forest rangers should have the same right to protect themselves as other law enforcement officers in our state. I strongly support legislation that would allow forest rangers to be armed.

As a retired state trooper, my circle of friends includes law enforcement officers in many places. Some are New York City police officers who have remarked how dangerous it is to work in Maine.

That may seem surprising. But they're right to point out that while they're doubled up and positioned near other officers, that's not the case for law enforcement officers in Maine. And we do have some very bad criminals in our state.

Maine forest rangers are not only alone and outnumbered but unarmed. We send them out with only pepper spray and a policy that tells them to retreat as fast as possible.

A police officer without a weapon? Unthinkable! I know officers who carry a back-up weapon in addition to a service weapon.

This is a question of workplace safety. We wouldn't expect a construction worker to be on the job without a hard hat or leave a firefighter without turnout gear. Why wouldn't we afford forest rangers the protection they need?

The Maine Law Enforcement Officers Memorial near the State House has too many names of officers who have died in the line of duty. There are no names of forest rangers engraved on it. Let's do all we can to keep it that way.

Rep. Tim Marks
District 54: Alna, Dresden, Pittston and Wiscasset