New York: Crime up 24 Percent in City Parks

NYPD declined to comment on the failure to meet legal requirements and gave a brief response to the matter in general.
New York: Crime up 24 Percent in City Parks
WORRIED FATHER: Thomas Whaley pushes his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, in Crotona Park where crime quadrupled from 2009 to 2010. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)
Tara MacIsaac
3/8/2011
Updated:
4/27/2011

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7507_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7507_medium.jpg" alt="WORRIED FATHER: Thomas Whaley pushes his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, in Crotona Park where crime quadrupled from 2009 to 2010. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" title="WORRIED FATHER: Thomas Whaley pushes his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, in Crotona Park where crime quadrupled from 2009 to 2010. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-121983"/></a>
WORRIED FATHER: Thomas Whaley pushes his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, in Crotona Park where crime quadrupled from 2009 to 2010. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—NYC Park Advocates, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group, reported on Monday that the number of major crimes occurring in the city’s parks rose 24 percent from 2009 to 2010.

The five parks with the greatest jump in major crimes are: Central Park at 50 percent, with more theft, rape, and drug arrests; Flushing Meadows, where robberies jumped from 2 to 10; Prospect Park, where incidents of grand larceny rose from 4 to 7; Riverside Park, where felony assaults rose from 1 to 9, and Crotona Park, where major crimes rose an astounding 414 percent. While some types of crime decreased in these parks, the overall trend was a marked increase.

“These figures represent a fraction of park crime because the city collects data in only 30 parks out of 1,700 parks and playgrounds,” writes the organization’s president, Geoffrey Croft. Croft notes that the NYPD was required by a law passed in 2005 to report crime in all parks by 2008.

NYPD declined to comment on the failure to meet legal requirements and gave a brief response to the matter in general. They warn park visitors not to leave their belongings unattended, noting this is how the majority of grand larcenies occur. The NYPD asserts that Central Park is still one of the safest precincts in the city, and made no comment on the other parks highlighted by NYC Park Advocates.

Crotona Park Crime Quadruples

On a sunny Monday afternoon in Claremont, North Bronx, Crotona Park seems a safe enough place, quite pleasant in fact. David Rojas and Ray Concepcion cast their lines into the 3.3-acre lake and chat as they pull in their prize—large-mouth bass.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7515_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7515_medium.jpg" alt="GONE FISHING: A peaceful place for a day trip, Crotona Park in the Bronx is not a safe place to be after dark. Ray Concepcion (L) and David Rojas (R) cast, catch, and release.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" title="GONE FISHING: A peaceful place for a day trip, Crotona Park in the Bronx is not a safe place to be after dark. Ray Concepcion (L) and David Rojas (R) cast, catch, and release.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-121984"/></a>
GONE FISHING: A peaceful place for a day trip, Crotona Park in the Bronx is not a safe place to be after dark. Ray Concepcion (L) and David Rojas (R) cast, catch, and release.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)
The two friends took a trip up from Manhattan for a not-too-distant fishing getaway. All they knew about Crotona Park is that the lake has been revamped in recent years.

“It used to be weed beds, but with the help of a lot of volunteers—a lot of teenagers—they cleared it out and made springs and filters,” explained Rojas.

Aside from a garbage can sticking out of the water, it is indeed an idyllic scene. Canada geese forage through the grass and a brook babbles in the background.

Peaceful respite by day, crime central by night: Crotona Park saw a 414 percent spike in crime from 2009 to 2010, according to NYC Park Advocates. Reported incidents increased from 7 to 36; robberies increased from 5 to 25; burglary rose from 0 to 2; grand larceny increased from 0 to 6.

“I’m trying to move away from here. It’s no good for the kids these days,” said Thomas Whaley as he pushed his 3-year-old daughter, Paris, on a swing set in a Crotona Park playground.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7504_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/IMG_7504_medium.jpg" alt="CRIMINAL GROUNDS: Crotona Park in Claremont, North Bronx, saw a dramatic increase in burglary, robbery, and grand larceny from 2009 to 2010.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" title="CRIMINAL GROUNDS: Crotona Park in Claremont, North Bronx, saw a dramatic increase in burglary, robbery, and grand larceny from 2009 to 2010.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-121985"/></a>
CRIMINAL GROUNDS: Crotona Park in Claremont, North Bronx, saw a dramatic increase in burglary, robbery, and grand larceny from 2009 to 2010.  (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)
Aside from the pair, the playground was deserted and not a soul was to be found at the other two playgrounds in the park. “My wife doen’t want to leave the house with the twins,” said Whaley, the proud father of infant twin girls.

When he moved to the area seven years ago it was a “nice neighborhood,” said Whaley. Now, drugs are rampant and dealers are a common sight on street corners. Drugs and robberies go hand in hand, remarked Whaley, as drug addicts need money.

“Maybe if they put more cops around here, it would change,” suggested Whaley. “The cops should be around here a little more often and they’re not—unless something happens.”

He pointed with surprise to a passing cop car, and another one in the distance. The police may have had a presence in the park on Monday, but so did the media after NYC Park Advocates reported on the dramatic increase in crime. As The Epoch Times interviewed Whaley, a News 12 cameraman approached Whaley for an interview.

The NYPD did not respond to an inquiry about police presence in Crotona Park as of press deadline.

 

 

“At night they [the police] need to be here,” said Whaley, who may bring his daughter out during the day, but keeps her safe indoors after sunset.