Sgt. Ron Gaskins has walked this beat before and he knows trouble when he sees it.

A crowd had gathered and was watching a curious character shimmying along two cables, stretched from pole to pole. “Where they’re standing now might not be good,” Sgt. Gaskins said. “Folks,” gesturing to a painted sidewalk “you might want to stay clear of the gray concrete.”

The subject of interest – a sometimes moody resident known as Bonnie – squatted. A long, steady stream sprayed onto the sidewalk 50 feet below. The crowd squealed and laughed upon realizing that Bonnie, an orangutan at the National Zoo, was peeing. 

It is a typical summer day for Sgt. Ron Gaskins of the National Zoological Park Police, the 123-year-old law enforcement agency in Washington, D.C.

The National Zoological Park Police is a fully armed police department run by a zoo, complete with a fleet of squad cars, an armory and a holding cell for arrestees.

Wearing a SIG Sauer .357 caliber sidearm and a badge, Sgt. Gaskins is a sworn peace officer with all the full arrest and use-of-force powers of most municipal police officers.

On a recent day patrol, in the Small Mammal House, there was an ear-splitting screech. Sgt. Gaskins stopped and looked.

A male red ruffed lemur, a critically endangered animal native to Madagascar, strides across a branch and embraces a female red ruffed lemur.

“Uh oh,” Sgt. Gaskins says. “They need some privacy.” He walks on. Zoo goers gape.

Officers are called for escapes, Sgt. Gaskins said, but keepers do the heavy lifting to corral the escapee. “Usually,” he says, “once we’re needed, it is not about recapture.” 

Night patrol is different. “It feels like you’re the one who’s being watched,” he said. Cheetahs often race alongside police cars. One gorilla bangs a window twice when officers arrive to lock up. 

Before joining the zoo police, Sgt. Gaskins worked for nearly 17 years for the Smithsonian police, a different agency, and was assigned to a variety of museums, such as the National Museum of Natural History, which features dinosaur skeletons and dioramas with stuffed animals.

“At Natural History, I was watching the animals that were dead, and here we watch the animals that are alive,” Sgt. Gaskins said. “Here, it is completely opposite. But I love it.”

National Zoo Police Chief Tim Kildea was hired about eight months ago after serving in the Army and Air Force and for 17 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs Police.

”The force has “a long, tortured history,” and “we’re trying to recruit,” Chief Kildea said, but he has run into difficulties. “We’re very low on the federal totem pole and that doesn’t help with recruiting,” Chief Kildea said.

Produced by: Siemond Chan Photo editor: Allison Pasek