One of the key elements to our community policing and problem-solving philosophy is to work in a collaborative manner with neighborhoods and other stakeholders to solve issues that give rise to crime and other quality of life concerns. It's all about building partnerships.
We met yesterday with leaders from the Webster Park Neighborhood to develop strategies to address a recurring problem that area experiences every Easter Sunday. Large crowds of young adults (easily 500 or more is common) typically gather there around dusk on Easter (April 4th this year), with a significant number of cars cruising through the neighborhood or parking just about anywhere they decide to stop. These crowds bring with them complaints from the residents that include extremely loud car stereos, impassable streets, illegal drug activity, drinking alcoholic beverages in a city park, fights, and occasional reports of gun shots.
For all practical purposes, residents feel trapped in their homes - unable to get out of their own driveways because cars are parked everywhere creating absolute gridlock. Suffice to say this is not the type of behavior we want in a quiet, neighborhood park like Webster Park.
We discussed several options and strategies that could mitigate the problem on Easter before it has a chance to develop into another a large nuisance. The group agreed the quickest fix will be for the police to deploy barricades that create one way traffic throughout the area and assign officers to the area ahead of the gathering to keep traffic moving rather than try to get cars moved once they get parked. Such an approach is manpower intensive for the police, but we would rather allocate resources there to prevent the problem from occurring instead of trying to move the crowd once they become entrenched within the park.
Our goal - to work together with all stakeholders in this matter between now and Easter to keep a lawful quality of life for anyone wanting to utilize the park on Easter without the disturbances and other unlawful activity that typically fills the Webster Park neighborhood.
It's what partnerships and collaborative problem-solving are all about.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
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