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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5 - Park Patrol Annual ReportItem 5 October 5, 2004 • RECREATION & SENIOR SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO: Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission FROM: Marie Knight, Director Re: Park Patrol Annual Report The Park Patrol Annual Report is attached for your review and file. n Li • OCTOBER 2004 PARK PATROL ANNUAL REPORT One year ago, the City of Newport Beach, Recreation & Senior Services Department created and implemented the Park Patrol program. The ultimate goal of the program was to create a safe and positive environment in the City's parks and recreation facilities. The benefit of providing quality recreational opportunities for the community has been well established and this program enabled staff to improve the City's already excellent park and recreation facilities by providing a higher level of service to the community. BACKGROUND Before this program existed, there were challenges identified with managing City parks, athletic fields and community centers. Since most of the facilities are programmed after business hours, there was a need for personnel out in the parks and community centers to monitor and manage the use in the evenings and on weekends. In the past, staff relied on self monitoring, contract instructors, coaches, volunteers and occasionally part-time staff to report problems, solve issues or note damage to fields and buildings. This caused numerous challenges in providing quality services in a safe enjoyable environment. ACCOMPLISHMENTS • The Park Patrol program's focus and goal is to inform and educate the public and community regarding the rules and regulations for use of the parks and facilities. The creation of this program has had a positive impact on both the Department and the community. The Division has received many calls from individuals and groups in the community thanking us for creating a great program that has created a more positive and safe environment for recreation activities. The following is a summary of the activities and accomplishments of the program this past year. Fields • Monitor 22 heavily used athletic fields for conflicts, damage and permitted uses between groups. • Monitor field lights which often remain on after groups depart. • Counsel persons driving vehicles onto fields causing damage to the turf and irrigation. • Monitor fields on rainy days to prevent their use which results in damage requiring the City to do additional costly maintenance afterwards. • Discover broken irrigation heads and report in timely manner to prevent flooding and damage. • Field reservations increased by 30% due to Park Patrol's diligence in monitoring field use. As a direct result of this program, the amount of groups that apply for and obtain park and picnic reservation permits has increased by 40 %. The outreach and education to user groups has successfully conveyed the importance and necessity • of field permits and park reservations. PARK PATROL ANNUAL REPORT — OCTOBER 2004 Page 2 City Facilities • Monitor 10 community centers which are not staffed (check doors for security, assist instructors who have forgotten keys or are leaving doors ajar after departing facility.) • Have discovered groups that were using the facilities when they were not scheduled or approved to be at the site (using keys illegally). • Monitoring rentals for compliance and reporting those who did not leave the facility in a clean, safe condition after use or were not complying with restrictions and use regulations. Park and Picnic Areas • Meet groups who reserve picnic areas to remind them about the use regulations and restrictions such as the limits on numbers of people, use of bounce houses and other entertainment, park hours, amplified sound restrictions, and the regulations prohibiting alcohol as preventative education. With this program in place staff has witnessed a great reduction in these types of problems as compared to previous summers. • Solve conflicts that arose when groups tried to occupy space reserved for others. • Respond to complaints from residents regarding illegal use of public tennis courts for commercial use. They continue to monitor the courts use, and the number of complaints has been reduced to almost nothing. • Educate residents as to the current leash laws, and the safety risk dogs not on leash presents in City parks. Staff continues to see a decrease in repeat offenders in this r area. Staffing The expectations of this program and the two officers that were hired have far exceeded all initial goals. Much of the credit should be given to the two individuals that were selected and hired. Both of them have extensive experience in dealing with the public and with problem solving in a manner that makes people recognize the importance of following the rules and regulations that have been created to best manage the City's park and recreation facilities. Citation Authority Park Patrol officer's were given the authority to issue citations, a necessary component to this program, especially when the officer's encounter repeat offender's or people /groups simply refuse to comply after being requested to do so. In every case, every individual /group is informed and given the opportunity to voluntarily comply with the specific rule or regulation that was violated. The Officers have been trained to use citation power wisely and only as a last resort after all other methods to gain compliance have been exhausted. As a result, the Park Patrol officers have issued only three Administrative Citations in the first year of the program. P PARK PATROL ANNUAL REPORT — OCTOBER 2004 Page 3 • Special Event Permit Compliance The Park Patrol has been especially helpful in monitoring the compliance with Special Event Permits for events on public property such as weddings and other large celebrations /events at City parks. This has been particularly beneficial near Lookout and Inspiration Points where many residents were frustrated with the amount of permitted and un- permitted large gatherings and parties that were occurring. Many of these events were not in compliance with park rules and regulations or their Special Event conditions and Park Patrol has been able to greatly reduce those problems. Park Maintenance Issues Park Patrol have been an excellent information resource for the General Services by reporting numerous cases of damaged turf, broken sprinklers, and other park property damage which has resulted in the quick repair and lack of further harm to park property as well as the safety of the public. They have also reported and had graffiti on public property quickly removed as well as routinely monitored and checked park playground equipment for hazards and or damaged or defective equipment. Safety Issues Park Patrol routinely monitors safety in the parks by responding to residents complaints about homeless persons using parks as their residence or bothering other park users. Specifically, the Park Patrol discovered dangerous unattended items (alcohol and prescription medications) that were stored in the landscaping in a park used by a . homeless person. Park Patrol has also been instrumental in monitoring the safety zone for the after school program. There have been instances when suspicious persons were hanging around the children at the after school programs and the Park Patrol were able to intercede and bring in the police. They have also been able to check on construction sites in parks and extract trespassers from cordoned off sites for their safety. In one case, children destroyed a newly poured rubber surface on a new playground by crossing barricades and were caught by the Park Patrol. In July, one of our officers was able to call the Police Department for assistance and then assist a resident with CPR efforts in a cardiac arrest situation at Irvine Terrace Park until more help arrived. As a result, the response time of the police and paramedics was much faster as park patrons were having difficulty reaching emergency assistance on their cellular phones. TRAINING During this first year, Park Patrol officer's have received training in the following areas: • Departmental training on park rules and regulations • NBPD training on carrying and using pepper spray as a defensive method, issuing citations and writing reports, AED (Automatic Deliberators), CPR and First Aid, safe driving practices, conflict resolution, animal control issues, parking • control /violations, fire prevention, park maintenance • Code and Water Quality compliance • POST PC 832 training. PARK PATROL ANNUAL REPORT — OCTOBER 2004 Page 4 0 FUNDING The program was created to be self supporting by raising fees for picnic reservations by 20 %, using a portion of increased revenues collected for Special Event Permit fees and charging $1 per hour for field use by Youth Sports Groups. These three sources yielded approximately 33% each of the funds required for the program's operation. In the first year of operation that total revenue was $47,737.06. The total expenses for the program were $43,121. Costs were somewhat higher than normal this year due to various one- time start-up costs. The program expenses also include equipment replacement costs for vehicles and benefit costs. FUTURE Looking ahead to the second year of this program, the goals are to continue to improve the quality of recreational experience that are provided to the community in Newport Beach. The Park Patrol officers training are ongoing and staff will continue to strengthen the communication between Park Patrol officers and the Police Department. Park Patrol has been invited to attend Police briefings on a regular basis and the Police have come to depend on the Park Patrol as an additional layer of safety and enforcement in the community The success of this program is due the cooperation of the many interested parties who • benefit from the presence of Park Patrol. They are the citizens of Newport Beach, the users of the parks and programs, Youth Sports Groups, the Police Department, Contract Instructors, Parks Division, Utilities Department, Animal Control and most of all the Recreation Division. In the future, staff will be looking to incorporate more daytime hours during the week to handle some of the problems that occur during business hours due to sporadic coverage. • • Newport Beach Park Patrol - Recreation Division Annual Field Activities Summary Activity 2004 -05 Scheduled Requested Calls Youth Sport Groups 1984 Field Reservations 1035 Picnic/Field Reservations 142 Community Center 806 Playground 647 Deposit Check for Reservations 3 Special Event Permits Pre -Event 40 Post -Event 20 Customer Contacts Education 356 Alcohol 44 Noise 3 Public Calls /Questions 65 Parking Issues 10 Safety 25 Dog Issues 209 Sign Removals 100 Graffitti 10 Other 5 Citations & Warnings Written Warnings 60 Written Citiations 3 Total Annual Activity 5567 November to August only Daily Pilot Rangers get on -cite training Employees patrolling t(they'll continue to do that, Ham Parks division. aTlCS are Te1Cl for ilton said. "They havent [met ' those p y "Typically, the way they're standards] to this point, and courses to prepare handled is to approach someone that's essential for them to do, ' them to hand out and advise them they are doing and they certainly can't take their something that is against the` .role any further, like giving civil more than )list some county's ordinances, and they citations, without it, "Miller said. ; educational hints. are asked to stop, and in all likeli- Rangers also will be equipped hood that will still be the preva -. with handcuffs and pepper spray lent approach,' he said. "For the for protection, and they'll have <' Alicia Robinson - - most part, people comply." additional training. The county %. Daily Pilot When they don't comply, or if supervisors and a majority of the violation is criminal rather - - rangers opted against giving park NEWPORT BEACH - -. County than civil, park rangers call local rangers authority to write misde park rangers may soon be armed law enforcement officers, and " meanor citations and carry -ba -- with a new weapon to fight vio -. ; they'll continue to do that as - tons, Miller said. , ]anon of park ordinances: a ci needed, Hamilton said. The most common park viola- tation book. - In January, . the Newport Beach lions are people drinking alco- Orange County supervisors on City Council voted to give the hol, unleashed dogs and skate Tuesday voted unanimously to -city's two park rangers citation board or. scooter use, county - have county Harbors,- Beaches authority while continuing to fo- records show. M.Mef will develop and Parks division staff members cus on resolving conflicts in city a. plan to train rangers so they ;! create a plan to make sure the parks by talking with - violators can begin writing citations; and county's 53 park rangers meet first. -hell bring that plan tocounty -; state qualifications for peace of- Data collected by county staff supervisors for approval within :! fleets and train the rangers to is- members showed that with more six months; I - sue civil citations. than 10 million people having . The county estimates it wilII - Rangers will be authorized to visited the county's park facilities cost about $180,000 for addi "I • write citations for violations of each year since 2000, park rang - tional testing, equipment and county ordinances against drink- ers handled an average of 16,356 salary costs, but fees for - training ing alcohol in parks, destroying incidents - a .,year. Law enforce- are yet to be determined.. natural resources, playing loud, ment officials were called in Civil citations come with fines music and other activities that about 250 incidents a,year, or of $160 for a first offense, $200 damage county parks . or inhibit 1,5 %, and they issued about 87 for the second citation and $500 people's enjoyment of them, said citations each year. - for the third, but the county isn't -Bob Hamilton, program plan _ .County park rangers also win expecting a windfall, Hamilton Jung manager for the'Harbors, - undergo. background .'checks, said. Beaches and Parks division. - psychological testing and more "There's absolutely no inten- Local facilities- under county stringent physical exams than -lion to go into the citation busi jurisdiction include, the Upper they now complete, which the ness," Hamilton said. "That's not Newport Bay, Talbert Nature Pre- state requires for government what this is about. It is not our serve and .Newport- Harbor. In employees classified as peace of goal to give citations, but to have the past, county park rangers ficers, . said Tim Miller, op the ability to give citations is be- have dealt with most civil viola erations superintendent for the fieved to be a tool toward - achiev. bons by talking to offenders, and - county Harbors, Beaches and :ing greater compliance." r 1 LJ I'