Federal Lands: Adopting a Formal, Risk-Based Approach Could Help Land Management Agencies Better Manage Their Law Enforcement Resources

Based in part on our recommendations, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service took several steps to strengthen their law enforcement programs. In November 2009, the National Park Service contracted with ICF International to evaluate the Visitor Management and Resource Protection Assessment Program (VRAP), a tool which guided staffing allocation for various park protection positions including law enforcement. In April 2011, an ICF report identified several weaknesses in VRAP and made recommendations on how VRAP could be improved. To address VRAP's weaknesses, the National Park Service released a new tool developed by ICF called the Staffing Analysis and Risk Reduction Tool (STARTT). Among other improvements, superintendents can use STARTT to identify potential risks to law enforcement, safety, resource protection and infrastructure protection if planned staffing levels are below STARTT's estimated staffing needs. Prior to STARTT's release, NPS developed a user's handbook to assist with training and implementation, and piloted the tool in 25 parks. In March 2012, the Bureau of Land Management issued a memorandum to all law enforcement field officials requiring that risk management be incorporated into state and field office Law Enforcement Plans. To implement this requirement, the Bureau of Land Management developed the Law Enforcement Integrated Risk Rating Tool (LEIRRT), developed a user guide for the tool, and trained law enforcement staff and managers on how to complete the tool and use it for decisionmaking. The LEIRRT assigns risk scores for nine risk factors--including fire, drug production, and illegal border activities--and weighs and aggregates the scores to develop a final risk determination for each factor. The resulting scores can be used to incorporate risk into state and field office Law Enforcement Plans including law enforcement staffing. In fiscal year 2013, all Bureau of Land Management all state and field offices were required to upload completed LEIRRTs to the Bureau's Office of Law Enforcement and Security. In addition, starting in 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service began developing a risk-based approach deployment and staffing model. As part of this, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been working on a risk intelligence staffing calculator (RISC) that will, among other things, identify risks that illegal and legal activities pose to natural and cultural resources, assess the magnitude of those risks and likelihood of occurrence, prioritize risks for preventative control actions, and restructure and strengthen the staffing and deployment model to integrate risk assessment requirements. This calculator is being fined tuned using data supplied by officers in all eight Fish and Wildlife Service regions. These efforts will ultimately culminate with a new staffing model for law enforcement.

Based in part on our recommendations, the Forest Service took several steps to strengthen its law enforcement program. First, in November 2013, Forest Service updated the template that its regional offices use for law enforcement planning. The template includes sections on identifying and ranking risks and vulnerabilities. Regions are required to assess circumstances in their region using the template and are expected to review the plans annually and update them as needed. As of July 2014, at least four of the agency's nine regions had submitted plans based on the template. Second, the agency also strengthened the process it uses for the Washington Office to determine if shifts in resource allocation are needed. In August 2014, a senior law enforcement official told us that this process relied on regular meetings (approximately every two weeks) by the Law Enforcement and Investigations leadership team, which is composed of key officials in the Washington Office and the Special Agent in Charge from each region, as well as on the information in the law enforcement plans submitted by the regions.