Public Employee Press

Local 983 PEP Officers ousted from Battery Park City


Flouting the community's demands, the Battery Park City Authority ousted Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers, replacing them with AlliedBarton private security guards.

"It's outrageous that the board would be so flagrant as to ignore the community and elected officials, and jeopardize safety at Battery Park City with AlliedBarton rent-a-cops, whose response to danger is 'Do nothing!'" said Joe Puleo, president of Local 983, which represents the PEP Officers.

Community Board 1 had voted unanimously to keep PEP Officers. State and city elected officials wrote the authority's chair Dennis Mehiel, asking the board to table proposals for private security "until the community's concerns are met."

But Mehiel announced Jan. 30 that, "PEP Officers were cut in response to community feedback."

The authority refused to renew its longstanding $2.5 million contract with the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

Instead, it inked a $2.1 million deal with Allied-Barton, whose employees,
unlike PEP Officers, are not authorized to make arrests or issue summonses.

In late December, the community's worst fears were realized. AlliedBarton bungled their response to an assault on two teens near the Battery Park ball fields. Security delayed emergency help for almost 30 minutes, witnesses said.

Both teens were beaten and robbed; one was unconscious and hospitalized with head injuries.

PEP Officers have patrolled the park since 1992. "They are the reason the neighborhood had a zero crime rate," Puleo said.

PEP Officers are trained in federal rescue and evacuation and CPR. They guided thousands from Battery Park City and the World Trade Center to safety during the 9/11 attacks in 2001. A decade later they evacuated residents during hurricanes Irene and Sandy.

The Local 983 members have not lost their jobs, but the Parks Dept. reassigned them.

Residents asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appoint community residents to vacant posts on the authority; currently, only one board member lives in Battery Park City. Multimillionaire packing and paper cup magnate Mehiel doesn't live in Battery Park City, but he docks two of his 50-foot yachts in its marina.

— Diane S. Williams