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Rape, Shooting, Muggings In City Parks Prompt Demands For More Police
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 16, 2011
Modified Jun 16, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 16, 2011
Modified Jun 16, 2011
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With recent reports of rapes, shootings, and muggings in city parks, politicians and parks advocates are demanding that the city allocate millions of dollars for increased law enforcement in parks. At a rally at City Hall yesterday, more than a dozen advocates and unionized park enforcement officers called for $10 million in funding to boost park security, the Daily Politics reports. Geoffrey Croft, president of NYC Park Advocates, said, "The vast majority of our parks are completely unprotected. The crime is exploding, and we’re asking the question: What is the city going to do about this?"
The City Hall rally came on the heels of a string of sexual assaults in Inwood and Washington Heights; one occurred in a secluded area of Inwood Hill Park on Friday night around 10 p.m. A day earlier, the Brighton Beach boardwalk shooting left one teenage girl dead and four young men injured. (The girl's grief-stricken mother told the Post, "They [are] so worried about someone smoking a cigarette when they should have been looking for guns.") And the Brooklyn Paper reports that "a spate of robberies" in Fort Greene "have turned the idyllic green into a crime den."
There have been at least six robberies in the last three weeks in Fort Greene park, some in broad daylight, and police suspect those damn teenagers to be the perpetrators in most of the crimes. The 88th Precinct's commanding officer optimistically tells Brooklyn Paper, "We think these problems will be alleviated when school gets out." But muggings have continued despite an increased police presence in the park, and one local resident, 25-year-old Jessica McCarthy, says, "It’s alarming that people are being mugged by 13-year-olds. But I’m not sure if more police would make me feel safer."
Tagged
crime
parks
teenagers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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