To Benefit Patrol Staff
Parks Union Seeks Security Upgrades

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Parks unions and advocates are hoping that newly released crime figures will convince the Bloomberg administration to keep funding an increase in Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) units and upgrade their facilities.

JOE PULEO: Pushes to professionalize.

Earlier advocacy by those groups persuaded the city to compile crime statistics by park instead of by precinct for the first time last year. The results, which calculated violent felonies from April through September of 2006, revealed Flushing Meadows/Corona Park as the most crime-prone in the city.

Seeks More Visibility

Last year the Mayor and the City Council agreed to add 70 members temporarily to the PEP force. The union says that the new crime statistics confirm the need for more visible enforcement. City officials say they agree that the beefed-up patrols are needed, but they do not agree that new facilities are necessary.

"We want the money to be permanent," said Mark Rosenthal, the president of Local 983 of District Council 37. "If we didn't have the additional officers last year, the statistics would have been worse."

The six-month compilation showed 35 felonies in Flushing Meadow and 25 in Prospect Park. The majority of crimes were robberies, with one reported murder and no rapes. The report does not detail misdemeanors, which are currently still calculated by precinct and not broken down by park.

The Chief-Leader/Eric Weiss NOT EXACTLY A SQUADROOM: Parks Enforcement Patrol officers assigned to Flushing Meadows/Corona Park use a converted 1964 World's Fair bathroom as their headquarters, one a union official laments is 'dilapidated, it's crowded and the public can't come in.'

PEP officers are not armed and primarily tackle quality-of-life offenses, but since they patrol the parks much more extensively than Police Officers, they also encounter and respond to violent crimes.

Staffing Not What It Was

About 20 years ago, there were 450 Parks employees patrolling the parks. Even with the increase last year, that number stands at about 200. Central Park is the only one in the city that has its own police precinct located inside its grounds. There were 101 violent felonies in Central Park in all of 2006.

Parks Department officials said that the PEP patrols were helping to make the parks safer. "We hope [the Mayor and the Council] will continue to view it as a valuable program and that they make it available again next year," said Warner Johnston, the chief spokesman for Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Christian DiPalmero, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, also said the PEP increase should be made permanent and hopes the crime-tracking system will be enhanced as well.

Facilities' Shortcomings

"One of our hopes is that we start tracking minor crimes, misdemeanors, petty theft, purse-snatching, that sort of thing, by park as well," said Mr. DiPalmero.

Union officials say that in order to do their jobs effectively, workers need a major improvement in their facilities. They propose that the city spend $25 million to set up PEP precincts inside the largest parks in each borough.

"In Flushing, they are operating out of the 1964 World's Fair bathroom," said Joe Puleo, a vice president of Local 983. "It's dilapidated, it's crowded and the public can't come in."

Parks to Inspect

A source in the Parks Department said that the agency was planning to visit the Flushing Meadows facility this week to see if improvements were needed.

Mr. Puleo said the union wants visible PEP centers where the public could come to report problems and that could act as booking centers, equipped with holding cells and computers for processing.

Queens Councilman Hiram Monserrate said he would push for funding for a PEP precinct in Flushing Meadows, but the Parks spokesman did not seem enthusiastic.

"We value the contributions of PEP officers, but we rely primarily on the NYPD for all matters involving crime prevention," said Mr. Johnston. "All violators that are apprehended are processed at police precincts."

Unaware of Problem?

Mr. Rosenthal nonetheless said he was optimistic about getting the improvements.

"I'm sure the Commissioner is not aware of the conditions these officers are working in, and if he was, he would fix it," he said.