Ranger danger tops agenda

Dangers rangers face while on patrol — such as dealing with drug labs found in car boots and urban and bush reserves — will be a hot button topic of a big ranger conference to be held in Bunbury later this year.

In a WA first, the State’s rangers will look at introducing training to help them respond to the discovery of clandestine drug labs.

City of Bunbury team leader of rangers Phil Avery is organising the conference — he said without proper training to identify dangerous situations, rangers could be placed in dangerous situations.

“As rangers patrol through regional areas and urban reserves, there is a chance they could come across scenes that are consistent with a clandestine drug lab,” he said.

The issue will form part of the WA Inaugural Rangers Conference, to be held in Bunbury in September.

The police arson squad will brief the rangers on bombs, explosions and crime scene preservation.

The move comes after a Donnybrook-Balingup shire ranger found three dead men in a crashed car on Donnybrook-Boyup Brook road near Mumballup in October.

The organised crime squad was called to investigate the scene after suspected drug-making chemicals were found in the wrecked car.

Mr Avery said other issues on the conference’s itinerary included fire and shark management, changes to laws including the new Cat Act and building interagency relationships.

Along with rangers from across WA, representatives will attend from the police, the Department Freedom of Information, the Ombudsman, a Bunbury Court House magistrate, the Department of Fisheries and other organisations.

Bunbury Police acting officer-in-charge Richard Moore said if a member of the public stumbled across a drug lab or dumped drug making equipment, they should call the police.

“Don’t touch it, don’t move it, stand upwind, ring the police and the organised crime squad will come down from Perth,” he said.

“They have the equipment to make the area safe.”

Sen. Sgt Moore said illegal drug labs were often mobile such as in car boots or even backpacks.

He said drug makers could dump equipment and move to a new site.

Mr Avery said the intensity of a ranger’s job had increased with the growing population.