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Rent A Cop
updated: Jul 13, 2012, 10:52 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

Does anyone know what kind of authority the Hope Ranch Patrol has? For instance, are you required to stop for them if you were pursued? What kind of rights in general does someone passing through private property like Hope Ranch have?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 297124	2012-07-13 10:59 AM
They are security... best way to know for sure is to call the police department & ask them.
COMMENT 297125	2012-07-13 10:59 AM
They have the authority to call a sworn officer.
COMMENT 297128	2012-07-13 11:05 AM
They work closely with CHP & SO. If they are in pursuit and you don't pull over you better bet the SO will be on the other side waiting for you
COMMENT 297129	2012-07-13 11:07 AM
It's illegal for private security guards to make traffic stops. A good rule of thumb is that you only need to pull over if you see red and blue lights -- security firms are not allowed to mount those lights on their cars.
COMMENT 297140	2012-07-13 11:27 AM
First of all, driving (or biking) through Marina to Los Palmas is not private property, those are County easements. Just curious, what happened out there?
COMMENT 297141	2012-07-13 11:27 AM
This might sound insulting, but it's true - Regardless of their "presentation" Hope Ranch security has the same authority over you as a mall cop. They are not sworn officers.
COMMENT 297144	2012-07-13 11:31 AM
They are hired by the Ranch Association to patrol the area for the benefit of the residents because the roads are technically private and the city and county DO NOT have to patrol the area on a regular basis. Because of increasing usage by non-residents the Ranch Association has now contracted with the CHP to patrol the roads. This is something that comes out of the resident's pockets (annual fees paid to maintain the Ranch.) The Ranch has been in existence since the 1920s and the idea was to not gate the area but allow public access. Legally a non-resident is not allowed to hang out and drive anywhere they please. But it's tolerated and is okay providing nothing illegal is going on. But a non-resident's use of these roads can be legally revoked at any time. e.g., the Santa Barbara Auto Group is no longer allowed to let customers test drive cars ever since a customer drove a car through the Ranch at high rates of speed.
COMMENT 297151	2012-07-13 11:50 AM
Are the security officers unionized? Can you imagine the "SHAME on YOU" union folks posting their minions at each entrance to Hope Ranch?
COMMENT 297155	2012-07-13 11:57 AM
Observe and report...
COMMENT 297170	2012-07-13 12:35 PM
They have no more authority than you and I. If they are "playing" cop, report them to the Sheriff immediately.
COMMENT 297174P	2012-07-13 12:46 PM
Growing up there I remember having a earlier pinto driving incarnation of the patrol named Baker chasing me and my friends on our bikes. Pintos cant take the horse trails though and he was rather heavy...
COMMENT 297179	2012-07-13 12:54 PM
Hope Ranch IS public access as there are county roads NOT private roads running through. I would suggest that any homeless RVer's looking for a place to park, should go to Hope Ranch or up on Mountain Drive since they are the folks who like to give $ to homeless programs which keep the homeless in our downtown corridor...
COMMENT 297181	2012-07-13 01:01 PM
@174P My dad used to tell me stories about that dude chasing him around too or how they would purposly get him to chase them due to pure bordem.. Man do that stuff that now and we would end up in jail...
EZ2	2012-07-13 01:03 PM
Watch out for Wendy and Nipper..they bankroll the patrol. oh wait they haven't paid them so Wendy and Nipper are being sued again! where is A.B.C.? (A.Barry Capello) did he get paid yet?
COMMENT 297186	2012-07-13 01:13 PM
Why does the OP ask? No one gets stopped unless they are being suspicious. Also who is the person recommending homeless people park in there? I suggest all homeless RVs find out that poster's address and make it a campground. Jealous much?
COMMENT 297188	2012-07-13 01:15 PM
Had lots of fun with HRP as a teenager.
SHAKEY	2012-07-13 02:16 PM
Security guards with cars pretending their police.
COMMENT 297207	2012-07-13 02:44 PM
Google for the upcoming movie "The Watch" :)
COMMENT 297210	2012-07-13 02:54 PM
Do the sheriff and PD have all the resources to be everywhere all the time? Of course not. Security guard or neighborhood watch, what's wrong with having another set of eyes and vehicles patrolling one's neighborhood? Or do citizens in non Hope Ranch neighborhoods tolerate the graffitti and daytime burglaries in their neighborhoods? I've called the Hope Ranch Patrol and they've had abandoned vehicles removed within hours. What's wrong with that? There seem to be so many envious people out there nowadays...
COMMENT 297226	2012-07-13 03:29 PM
Does this mean the strip search they performed on me was illegal?
COMMENT 297227	2012-07-13 03:30 PM
I've always been jealous of the folks that are fortunate enough to live in Hope Ranch! I won't deny it :)
COMMENT 297245	2012-07-13 03:59 PM
RVs squatters would do well looking up the addresses of chief donors of Homeless Inc so they could drop by to thank them.
COMMENT 297295P	2012-07-13 05:35 PM
My mother said you should ALWAYS be respectful to anyone who is in a uniform!!!!
COMMENT 297296	2012-07-13 05:37 PM
226 - no current Hope Ranch Patrol ever strip searched you, I think you are dreaming up some action. The Hope Ranch Patrol, like any other citizen can do a citizen's arrest. They also help those who think driving around here fast is cool and crash their cars into trees, signs, ditches, other cars and recently a mail box. Yes, I am fortunate to live here and am thankful to have the Hope Ranch Patrol & if you are not breaking the law they have a nice wave for you. I also thank God, that my years of getting a good education, (instead of partying), many years of very hard work & long hours, which, meant the loss of time with my family & friends, has afforded my children the opportunity to grow up here. Oh yeah, and Vieja Valley School is amazing!
COMMENT 297301	2012-07-13 05:44 PM
calling paul blart! we have a situation.
COMMENT 297305	2012-07-13 05:48 PM
I don't think anybody is jealous of the Hope Ranch Patrol per se. I just find it amusing that some of the residents believe they are a target and deserve protection, and then pool their money on a useless protective solution like a security guard to intimidate the commoners.
COMMENT 297310	2012-07-13 06:02 PM
They have the authority to stand their ground.
COMMENT 297313	2012-07-13 06:08 PM
I don't live in Hope Ranch but know a few who do. They are hard working folks like the rest of us and have just as much stress and worry in their lives as the next person. Having a big house in Hope Ranch doesn't always mean you're "living the good life." People judge their own success relative to what they value.
COMMENT 297316	2012-07-13 06:15 PM
Zimmerman potential there...some poor drunk kids turn the wrong way after being at Henry's Beach....got some Fifty Cent booming on the CD player....get lost in the Ranch Not the least implausible as a scenario to consider...
COMMENT 297333	2012-07-13 07:09 PM
Sillyme: you picked the right name for yourself :-)
COMMENT 297386	2012-07-14 04:20 AM
Thanks Self-deprecation is an art I learned from Rodney!
COMMENT 297396	2012-07-14 07:04 AM
they are hired to keep the "hope ranch annex" folks from coming in and pretending they live in hope ranch!
COMMENT 297407	2012-07-14 07:27 AM
The patrol is harmless, keeps the rifraf out . We mest with him for years. He won in the end when he ran us off the road down hilling are skate boards, That was a wreck. Baker is part of my history,It would not be the same with out the Hope Ranch Patrol. "Pinto Ha"
RONNIEB	2012-07-14 07:47 AM
Sixty-five years ago when I was in second grade we lived in Hope Ranch Annex on Arboleda Rd. Hope Ranch patrolman Baker's son was my classmate at San Roque School and their daughter was a year behind us. The Bakers lived in a two-story house on Nogal. Mr. Baker patrolled at night in his Ford. (I sense most of the action he found was couples parked to "make out.") He was an avid ham radio guy and had his radio equipment in a room attached to the old garage behind their house. Around that time the Bakers son Chucky who was around three died of a brain tumor. Their old home and ours are both gone now. On the west side of the creek behind Arboleda Rd. there were lemon orchards all the way to Goleta. When the trees flowered the wonderful smell of lemon blossoms was everywhere. It was a wonderful neighborhood for kids!
COMMENT 297425	2012-07-14 08:11 AM
I appreciate the retrospectives but why do some of you begrudge the question/er? Are we so suspicious of our fellow posters to assume their curiosity is driven by jealousy and/or intent to be unruly? I am continually struck by the very uptight and angry tone of many edhatters. I guess, if you're angry at the world, this is cheap way to unload your agressions. I'll at least admit that snipey behavior on community blogs makes me angry. Ironically, folks who shower anger on other posters for no good reason are likely the same folks who seem to have plenty to say about what's wrong with the world. Get a mirror.
COMMENT 297443	2012-07-14 08:45 AM
They are the SBcounty Sheriff.. Look at the Back of the Car.. It is A Sheriff officer paid by HR to patrol the Private Areas of the Ranch.. Stay on the County Roads and Obey the Law you will be fine.
ROGER DODGER	2012-07-14 08:57 AM
The original poster only seems concerned with teaching the rotton eggs a lesson without suing the HELL out of everyone and their mothers involved the cops, DA, Hope Ranch Patrol and whomever else wants to go.. She only wants real justice. Good Luck with that one she wants her kid to see that justice works, which it doesn't. Maybe at one time it did. It's too bad that not even the da, the cops no one seems to care until they are being sued. I look at my own experience of being teased and abused for years and years and finely striking back. Fracturing one peers skull, and putting a metal plate in another taunters head. If things would have been done right those things would never have happened. But no body does anything right, they just talk about it. Look at our country today..What a mess I'm surprised there isn't another war between the states we are one messed up society. I sure hope her kid don't end up like me a drunkard in and out of rehab most of his life, a failure until middle age so angry at the hand delt one can't see straight. What happened to people in our country don't they care about the children anymore?
ROGER DODGER	2012-07-14 08:58 AM
Look at that I commented on the wrong thread..Got me.
COMMENT 297474	2012-07-14 09:40 AM
Good story Ronnieb
COMMENT 297475	2012-07-14 09:40 AM
They have the authority to hold your @$$ until handed over to law enforcement for processing and booking. What your parents tell you is to be suspect as they are in effect your co-conspirators... you get caught doing something dumb it looks bad on them and they have to pay for your defense ... of course, they'll tell you anything that helps you exonerate yourself, that's what parents do these days.
COMMENT 297555	2012-07-14 12:32 PM
Private security guards ( or security service) they have the same powers of arrest that any private citizen has. (citizens arrest) Felonies and misdemeanors being committed in fact IN THEIR PRESENCE (i.e. at the time) as opposed to the powers of arrest for peace officers who can arrest for felonies they have reasonable cause to believe were already committed or are being committed in their presence and misdemeanors being comitted in their presence. (i.e.) they see them occurring.
YPYETR	2012-07-14 02:40 PM
I can tell you that they are very intollerant of isolated public intimacy.....hahahaha!
COMMENT 297663	2012-07-14 04:58 PM
Roger Dodger - wrong threat oar knot, your comments our write-on, thought-provoking, and something we all knead to here. You speak eloquently to some of the ills and wrongs in our society, and we all oh you tanks for having the courage to talk about the darker parts of your history.
COMMENT 355783	2012-12-19 06:28 PM
Living in Hope Ranch I know. All roads except for Las Palmas and Marina are private roads(private property). They have the right to pull over cars on private roads, and also detain people and call the sheriff. They have all the equipment of a police agency, dodge charges, lights, siren, dispatch, guns, ect.

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