At a March 3 City Council hearing about the mayor’s planned increase of 67 Parks Enforcement Patrol officers for the fiscal year 2017 budget, Parks Department Commissioner Mitchell Silver spoke about the planned allocation of officers for Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
“We have six dedicated to the Flushing Meadows Corona Park; there will be an addition of eight, which will make 14,” he said.
According to a Parks Department spokesman, the park has 12 PEP officers reporting out of it, six of whom are dedicated to patrolling the park.
In addition, a department spokeswoman said, there are four city seasonal aid officers and three urban park rangers assigned to the aquatic center in the park, in addition to five job training participants who are assigned to the Al Oerter Recreation Center.
Behind only Central Park, which has a police precinct dedicated to it, FMCP has the second-highest crime rate out of any park in New York City.
But according to a supervisory officer, the numbers provided by the department are inaccurate.
According to the source, who preferred to speak on the basis of anonymity, there are two CSA officers assigned to the aquatic center and one assigned to the Al Oerter Recreational Center, three UPRs assigned to the aquatic center and three PEPs that report out of the park but don’t patrol it. (Though four normally report there but work elsewhere, the officer said, one has recently been temporarily reassigned to Rockaway Beach.) He also did not challenge the number of JTPs, as he “does not deal with them.”
However, he said that there are no officers whose patrol is focused solely on Flushing Meadows Corona Park as a whole, rather than specific sites inside of it.
“There aren’t any dedicated to the park,” the supervisor said, clarifying that he meant officers dedicated to the park as a whole, rather than the aquatic center or the Al Oerter Recreation Center. “It’s all smoke and mirrors,” he added, referring to the information given to the public by the park agency.
“They’re misrepresenting it,” Parks Enforcement Union Local 983 President Joe Puleo said, referring to the staffing levels claimed by the Parks Department. Elected officials, he added, may be getting the wrong impression of the actual situation.
NYC Park Advocates President Geoffrey Croft put it even more bluntly.
“That’s a bold-faced lie,” Croft said, referring to Silver’s City Council testimony about the park and its officer staffing.
5 comments:
when I was a kid almost every schoolyard in the city had a park attendant (parkie)
he used to hand out equipment and turn on the sprinklers. he would keep the park clean and make small repairs. he ususally was a friend and would watch out for the younger kids.
when he went on vacation in the summer, the city would hire a college kid to sub for him.
those days are LONG gone.
Queens parks have ZERO oversight by PEP officers or NYPD. We NEVER see law enforcement of any kind in our local parks.If a crime is being committed in a park call 911. It will take 5-10 business days for a PEP officer to show up .
These PEP officers are only used in public during the USOpen. 2 officers used only to yell and whistle at any one placing a foot in the Unisphere water.
God forbid the USOPEN tourist see regular Queens residents cooling off in the fountains.
I cant help laugh in their faces when i challenge their stupidity and aggressiveness over a kid running thru the fountains. The pep officers are really a joke.
Let' rehire some of the 5000 cops that are gone through attrition. Where did all the money go that used to pay for these cops???
PEP cops? Fugghettabout it!
If you dare to venture into FMCP , go well armed!
Or make good friends with the Latin Kings for protection!
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