Mukilteo park ranger keeps his eyes focused on the community

Aiden Lone had a job he enjoyed with a well-regarded company.
He worked in loss prevention at the Shoreline Costco for about seven years. But in the back of his mind, he always dreamed of finding another job more aligned with public service.

“I’ve always liked helping people, and when I was doing loss prevention I worked pretty closely with the King County Sheriff’s Office and got to help them a lot at Costco.”

After graduating from Shorewood High School, he studied criminal justice at Shoreline Community College. As part of the program, he completed a three-month internship with the Mukilteo Police Department in 2019. He spent three days a week learning firsthand about the law enforcement field.

In August 2023, Lone received an alert on his phone about a park ranger opening in Mukilteo Police Department’s Community Services Division.

“I was always meaning to apply because eventually I would like to be a police officer at some point,” he said. “I figured I’d get my foot in the door with the department and see how I liked it.”

Mukilteo Police hired Lone as its newest park ranger in November. Six months later, he’s loving his new job. Trading in the confines of a warehouse for the sand, sun, and even the rain at Mukilteo’s Lighthouse Park, Edgewater Beach Park, and Japanese and Big gulches has worked out well for the 25-year-old Edmonds resident.

Assistant Police Chief Colt Davis noted the primary function of the job is parking enforcement and patrolling the parks. The department looks for candidates who like to work with the public and can operate independently. “A park ranger is like their own entity,” Davis said. “We give them a lot of freedom.”

Not surprisingly, Lone said the best part of the job is getting to hang out at the parks. “It’s almost a perfect excuse to walk around on the beaches all day.”

Lest anyone think that all a park ranger does all day is chat with people at parks, Lone points out that he has many responsibilities.

During one of his typical four 10-hour shifts, Lone issues warnings and tickets as part of his parking enforcement duties. And it’s not just at Lighthouse Park; he can be spotted all over the city, from Old Town to Beverly Park Road.

“If we get a parking complaint somewhere else in the city, I’ll go take care of that,” he said. Mukilteo Speedway is no stranger to vehicle collisions and the resulting traffic backups. If the City’s traffic officers need assistance, they’ll call on Lone to direct traffic.

He also works with animal control officer Shanita Duke. The two have opposite shifts to try and cover for each other. When Duke is off, Lone is the defacto animal control officer.

“Occasionally, I’ll help animal control. She is really good at her job, so she doesn’t need much help. But if she runs into a situation where there are multiple dogs and it’s urgent, then I’ll pop over and go help her.”

Davis said other park ranger duties include walking trails, enforcing park rules, assisting records staff, answering phone calls in the front office, and assisting with walk-in complaints. Two important qualities the department looks for in its park ranger applicants are being highly motivated and a self-starter. Two former Mukilteo park rangers eventually were hired as police officers by the City.

“Aiden has been amazing. He’s a go-getter,” Davis said. “When you hand him an assignment he takes it on and does it. He’s eager to learn and grow.”

Up and running

One of the first things Lone does when he arrives at the police station in the morning is to log onto his computer to see that the City’s parking meters are all functioning properly. Once he sees no problems, he heads to Lighthouse Park.

Even though some residents are enjoying one of the nicer spring days, it’s still early and Lighthouse Park isn’t busy – only a few vehicles are in the parking lot. Lone checks the dashboard of an out-of-town vehicle for a parking receipt and runs the license plate (the City is transitioning to a digital platform where parking passes are associated with license plate numbers).

Instead of writing a parking ticket, he issues a warning and leaves it in a small envelope under one of the wiper blades.

The driver returns a few minutes later;  Lone tells him he just left him a warning notice and not a ticket. The driver seems appreciative.

“Each situation is different. But when it’s nice like it is today, especially more towards the evening at Lighthouse Park, it gets super busy.” Lone writes between five and 10 parking infractions a day. On a day when the parking lot is packed, the number can run into the 20s.

His years as a loss prevention specialist helped Lone deal with angry people. Even though he said most people are happy to see him, on occasion he will run into people who cop an attitude about getting a parking ticket. He is usually able to calm people down if they are especially worked up.

“It’s being able to communicate with them and not coming in all high and mighty. It’s coming in at their level and being able to see what the situation is, especially if they’re coming at you right off the bat all hot and heavy.”

Lone tries to remain calm and reassuring. He tells people that a parking ticket usually is $50, and that they have options , including disputing the ticket.

“I think the gift of talking to people very, very important, especially in that role,” Davis said. “Verbal skills and the ability to communicate are super important in this profession, not just for a park ranger, but for law enforcement as well.”

 
Making the rounds

After spending time at Lighthouse Park, Lone usually drives to Edgewater Beach Park; the park is in Everett but Mukilteo operates and maintains it.

He checks in with Sound Transit security. The regional transit agency operates a nearby light rail station and shares parking with Mukilteo. “I’ll go over to Edgewater Park just to make sure everything’s OK. There are no parking meters over there, but I like to just make my presence known. I’ll go walk over there for a little bit.”

As he was walking back to his vehicle in the parking lot, a woman stopped him to complain about the strong smell of marijuana coming from one of the cars in the parking lot.

“Is there anything you can do about it?” she asked.

Lone explained he was not a police officer, but that he would check with his supervisor. Commissioned police officers have attended the police academy and have the authority to enforce state criminal laws and arrest suspects, Davis said. He added that Mukilteo Police have granted its park rangers limited authority to deal with certain types of incidents at parks, such as vehicle prowls and graffiti. Park rangers have no authority to detain suspects.

“Occasionally, I’ll run into some people who think that I’m fully commissioned,” Lone said. “And I’ll explain I’m here to help, obviously. But there is some stuff that I need to have a patrol officer. Without being fully commissioned, there are things out of my range of what I’m legally allowed to do.”

The woman thanked him and continued walking to the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal. Lone reached his supervisor, who confirmed that Snohomish County amended a no-smoking-in-public-places law to include marijuana.

Walking the trails

The first few hours on the waterfront generally are slow. That gives Lone the opportunity to head to one of the trailheads to the Japanese Gulch Conservation area near the Mukilteo Community Garden at the northwest corner of 44th Avenue West and 76th Street SW. “I tend to go use that time to go check on some of the trail systems. It’s a lot of seeing where the day takes me.”

Lone, an outdoor enthusiast, enjoys being able to get out in the parks and trails. He typically walks the trail system in the Japanese Gulch and Big Gulch Park daily.

If people have trouble finding their way out of either gulch, Lone will point them in the right direction. “People sometimes get lost in there, and they just need help in getting out.” He waves to some of the gardeners in the community garden and takes a look at the almost-completed nearby dirt jump bike park. His next stop is 92nd Street Park and Big Gulch.

Lone likes to make sure no debris is blocking the trails. When it’s cold and wet, he doesn’t run into many hikers or bicyclists on the trails.  Summer means more people hitting the trails. “Now that the weather’s nicer, it’s going to be higher on my priority list,” he said.

Lone heads back to the trails at the end of his shift when it starts getting dark. He wants to make sure no one is lost or in trouble.  “Once it gets dark in the trails, it’s pitch black there. I like to go in probably half a mile and see if there’s anyone who needs guidance.”

Lone hasn’t had to deal with any distressed hikers so far. But in February, he was part of a search team looking for a small airplane that crashed in Japanese Gulch. The aircraft was located near a ravine off a trail. The pilot was uninjured.

“The plane overshot the runway and ended up in Japanese Gulch. We were in the park for an hour trying to locate the plane. It was pitch black there so you couldn’t see anything, and the plane lights weren’t on. It was a lot of walking around with the fire department, medics, and some people from Paine Field. Eventually, they located him.”