Highway patrol in Puna?

[TomK]

Kathy wrote:

"One of my sons was commuting from Hilo to HOVE for a while for a construction project, and he noted the federal police were always in place in stealth mode at points where drivers were prone to exceed that 45 mph stretch that was downhill all the way going Ka'u. He saw people pulled over regularly."

I'm still really confused by many of the comments in this thread.

Federal police? I've never seen federal police here and am not even sure what they look like or who they are. Please enlighten me.

Gypsy69's comments also mention a 2:1 ratio of police vehicles to regular cars late at night on Puna highways. Sorry, I do that drive a lot late at night/early morning (Hwy 11 and then 130). I'm lucky if I see one police vehicle let alone six during my drive.

Hate to say it, but I think one or two people on this thread are exaggerating things (not you, Oink).

[lavalava]

Hate to say it but I can back Karen up on this one Tom. The park police are federal police and are known for running a speed trap using various driveways and pullouts between the Volcano Golf Course road and when the park ends ( when the limit goes from 45 to 55). Your tax dollars at work...

[TomK]

Do you mean the rangers in the National park? If so, then I think I understand. I read some time ago they could stop and arrest people for DUIs in the park and of course the funding for them is federal. I just don't quite get how this applies to the rest of Puna. Thanks for helping to clarify this!

[Mimosa]

Oink - Quota's here are normal at the end of every month.Might be a thing of the past on mainland where you are,but this is NOT mainland.
Could be also training for the new law enforcement officers paid for by the feds.
Yes any infraction in national park is bad news.Going 42mph in the 45 zone is best as they do have stealth area's to stop and tag the speeders or expired safety stickers or any other vehicle infractions.Any tickets must be challenged in federal courts on Oahu and at your expense,meaning one has to fly to Oahu to show up and pay the fine.
Best to always drive safely.
If and when they open CoC i am sure there will be check points and many tickets and arrests as it is federal and not state or county.
Even now at point of entry off Hwy 11 going into the Natl Park,they run every resident through a national data base on a daily basis.

[TomK]

OK, so could someone provide some real evidence for quotas, since they seem to be mentioned in this thread more than once?

Thanks.

[missydog1]

Tom, yes, Rangers who patrol and also speed trap the road between the park entrance and way down into Ka'u to the park boundary. Just look at a map of the area and note where Hwy 11 is running inside the VNP.

How would it affect Puna? If and when the Chain of Craters becomes the route in and out of South Puna, with much more traffic through the park, they would most likely patrol more than they do now through the Park.

My point was simply that it won't be anything new for the Rangers to act as traffic cops, because they already do, only people who just go up to VNP from Puna and turn around may not be familiar with the Ka'u side speed trap.

PS. There are nene crossings along Highway 11 and the speed limit takes that into account. I'm not saying it's a bad speed limit, but it's always nerve wracking to drive down a grade at a speed lower than the vehicle will do rolling, making sure it doesn't creep up to exceed the line, knowing the federal ticket is waiting in the wings.

Kathy

[missydog1]

Tom, if you look at this Wikipedia page on the National Park Service Ranger, and scroll down to Law Enforcement and Emergency,

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_...ice_Ranger

You will see that law enforcement is a specific type of Ranger professional class, although various duties may overlap. Some will specialize in education and interpretation, but the law enforcement class Rangers really are Federal Police.

Now I am flashing back to the Yogi Bear cartoons of my youth. ;-). (If you're not familiar, setting was Yellowstone National Park, where Ranger Smith devoted his energy to keeping Yogi and BooBoo from hustling tourists for food and other schemes.)

Kathy

[TomK]

Gypsy69 started the thread about police pulling over drivers between Hilo and Pahoa and wrote there were 6 police cars (nice new ones) and only three other vehicles.

I say that is bull**** because I drive that route often and many times in the early hours and have yet to see six police vehicles during that drive.

So far, during all of those trips, I have yet to see National Park rangers patrolling Hwy 130 and I have never seen a national park ranger pull over someone for a DUI on Hwy 11 or 130 between Hilo and Pahoa.

So who are the federal officers pulling people over on Hwy 130? That's the route Gypsy69 posted about.

[Guest]

Regardless of it being Federal Police, or County Police, or on Hwy 11 or on Hwy 130, pretend each Officer is a mini RJ and her stoned side kick Sativa, and all the speeders and drunks are mini Graham's breaking the law!

[jlgerk]

@ KathyH . That was "JellyStone Park"