Public Employee Press

Bloomberg cuts raise danger signs in city parks

Park Enforcement Patrol Officers are supposed to maintain safety in public parks and beaches, but the dangerous effects of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's budget cuts have become frighteningly clear to the public and all Parks Dept. workers.

Parks management has slashed the ranks of PEP Officers by 75 percent, from 400 to 97, and the agency is relying on City Seasonal Aides for law enforcement. Now there are just two PEP Officers on duty in each borough.

"CSAs don't have the proper training or policing powers to effectively control situations or make arrests," said Local 983 Vice President Joe Puleo. They have no pepper spray, batons or handcuffs. "This puts the public and too many of our members in harm's way." He gave two alarming examples:

CSA Joseph Williams was patrolling the shoreline after Coney Island Beach closed and asked a woman to leave the water. She became irate, reached into her bag, withdrew a can of lighter fluid, squirted it on Williams and began tossing matches at him.

CSA Sally Kingwood cooled off a heated situation at a Staten Island kiddie pool by persuading a man with a 9 mm gun who had threatened to shoot a Lifeguard to leave the Grandview Playground.

"I had to keep a calm head and make sure the children and my coworkers were safe," said Kingwood, a soft-spoken 12-year veteran CSA and mother of four who also works as a School Aide. No PEP Officers were assigned to the park.

"Kingwood went beyond what should be expected of any $12-an-hour employee to protect the children, but her experience illustrates the escalated threats to public safety that we face daily," said Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal.

The public knows the limited extent of a CSA's authority, and troublemakers taunt them. "CSAs realize they are not cops," Puleo said, "Until Parks hires more PEP Officers, CSAs will have to call on the Police Dept. for help."