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supervisor will determine if the department director needs to be notified; however, if rangers
are unable to contact the supervisor, they should contact the director.

While circumstances surrounding incidents vary, the following general guidelines should be
followed when deciding whether or not to notify a superior while an incident is in progress or
immediately after:

• Fires on or threatening OSMP properties;
• Floods or other natural disasters affecting OSMP properties;
• Deaths on OSMP properties;
• Serious criminal activities on OSMP properties;
• A ranger drawing a firearm on a person;
• Any use of force by a ranger to include handcuffing detained suspects;
• Custodial arrests made as a result of violations on OSMP properties;
• Significant wildlife encounters (see Chapter 13: Wildlife Response);
• Activities that close public access to any portion of OSMP properties;
• Occurrences that attract, or are likely to attract, media coverage;

• Incidents resulting in excessive negative media coverage;
• Hazmat incidents, including oil/gas wells malfunctioning on OSMP properties;
• Discharged firearms, including for wildlife dispatching and/or adverse conditioning; and
• Rangers who are injured or involved in vehicle accidents while on duty.

Media Relations

During major incidents, rangers should not attempt to provide information to reporters or other
media representatives. Good media relations must be maintained; therefore, questions
concerning incidents should be directed to the incident commander (IC) or public information
officer (PIO) because they have greater knowledge of the incident. If an IC or PIO is not
available, the ranger services supervisor or his or her designee will function as the media
liaison.

At no time should rangers discuss an injured party’s medical condition or the department’s
potential liability. Rangers are not authorized to declare a person deceased, only a doctor or the
coroner may make that determination. In daily operations, the ranger services supervisor must
approve all press releases and rangers must notify the supervisor of any interactions with media
personnel.

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