"Interior: Agency 'Strongly Opposes' GOP Bid To Disarm Federal Agents"

"Local sheriffs would be a poor fit to replace Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service law enforcement officers, an Interior Department official said in a letter yesterday to House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

The official said Interior 'strongly opposes' H.R. 4751 by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a bill that would eliminate hundreds of law enforcement positions at both agencies and pay local police to patrol federal lands.

Local police are not trained for the unique responsibilities of BLM law enforcement officers, which include protection of endangered species, wild horses, Native American sites and federally owned minerals, said the letter signed by Harry Humbert, Interior's deputy assistant secretary for public safety, resource protection and emergency services.

Moreover, local police serve their own constituents rather than the broader American public, which raises conflicts of interest in patrolling the federal estate, Humbert wrote."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire June 21, 2016.