A massive manhunt in Colorado and Utah for three suspected cop-killers who also fired upon an area national park employee, and the recent killing of a park ranger in North Carolina, may prompt heightened security in national parks, monuments and other sites, one park service leader said.

Art Hutchinson, superintendent of Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments who was shot at by the fugitives but not hit, said park service employees are taking extra precautions in light of the shootings.

"Some will say it’s an anomaly. Some will say it’s a warning call," he said. "It will be a topic of discussion back in Washington, though."

An official at the National Parks Office in Denver, who offer support for 80 parks in eight western states, said the agency will continue to discuss security and safety at national parks and sites. Jim Reilly, branch chief for ranger activities, said more parks are installing surveillance cameras, alarms and bullet-proof glass at fee stations.

Reilly said crimes have decreased in parks where fee stations have been built. He said of the 80 parks in this region, 50 have fee stations. He said that gives parks employees greater awareness over who crosses park boundaries.

Reilly called the recent shootings extraordinary because park employees typically don’t deal with criminals using high-powered rifles. He said there are preliminary discussions about getting increased funding to upgrade bullet-proof vests for park law enforcement.

Security was beefed up at Hovenweep after May 29 when three men allegedly shot and killed a Cortez police officer and shot two Montezuma County sheriff’s deputies before fleeing in the rugged canyon country on the state border. The men, who were driving a stolen flatbed truck, fired shots at Hutchinson as they tore through the entry to Hovenweep on the Colorado side.

Hutchinson said Hovenweep is keeping extra law enforcement through the summer. Extra law enforcement that has been working at Natural Bridges were sent home Saturday, he said. The campground at Hovenweep opened Saturday after being closed for nearly one month.

National Park Service employees said last week that the manhunt, which drew as many as 500 special forces and law officers from the region, proves that the wilderness isn’t a safe haven. That was reinforced when a lone gunman last Sunday shot and killed a park ranger at the Blue Ridge Parkway in the North Carolina mountains. The ranger, Joseph Kolodski, was the 99th national parks employee to die in the line of duty.

Jim Dougan, chief ranger at Hovenweep and Natural Bridges, said he thinks bullet-proof vests will become more common for park rangers taking precautions against could-be criminals. He said the vests are available to all employees, but they may use their own discretion about wearing them.

"National parks are just a microcosm of the rest of America," Dougan said. "There are problems out there, and people don’t leave those problems when they cross over the park boundaries."

Park service authorities said they can’t explain the recent violence, especially given that the rate of serious crimes in the country’s 376 national parks, monuments, recreation areas and other sites decreased in the 1990s while visitation numbers soared.

David Barna, park service spokesman, said the agency stepped up law enforcement at parks in the early 1980s when crime became more common in parks, monuments and sites. In recent years, he said, crimes have decreased. In 1990, the park service reported 448 assaults in national parks. In 1995, 164 assaults were reported.

But Four Corners area park officials aren’t looking at crime statistics complacently. The immediate danger of the massive manhunt in which the trail has gone cold is what is driving more roving rangers.

Dougan said Hovenweep has rangers working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"There is a general heightened awareness, especially since this incident may not be over," he said.