Sean C. Morgan
The city’s efforts to improve Sankey Park in recent years appear to have paid off with a significant reduction in calls to police for activity at the park.
In 2017, police responded to 120 reports from Sankey Park. Last year, they responded to 98 calls. As of Oct. 22, with a little more than two months remaining in the 2019 calendar year, police had responded to 48 reports.
The vast majority of calls involve reports of smoking, curfew violations, thefts and vandalism, said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. So far this year, there have been no reports of person crimes, which usually involve bodily harm, the threat of bodily harm, or other actions committed against the will of an individual. Crimes against persons also can include offenses such as harassment, kidnapping, and stalking.
Last year, Sankey Park had one, and in 2017, the park had three person crimes reported.
“We’ve taken a holistic approach to Sankey Park,” Lynn said. “We looked at it as a whole. (Public Works) took some trees down. They’ve opened the park up. They’ve made a lot of improvements to Sankey Park.”
Public Works staffers have lifted the the forest canopy, opening up visibility through the park, Lynn said, and Sweet Home police officers patrol it daily, on foot.
“We can all find a few minutes out of our day to go and walk out there,” Lynn said, and that puts a police presence in the park.
“This past summer, we’ve seen a lot more family activity, small children, mostly moms and I would assume grandparents throughout the week,” said Public Works Operations Manager Dominic Valloni. Families are using the park on weekends.
“There’s still unwanted behavior that goes on,” Lynn said, adding that’s the case with every park in the state.
Valloni said that the city had seen a little more vandalism and garbage being dumped inside the restrooms as winter approaches, but the negative behavior is much less common than previously.
Valloni and Lynn said Public Works and the Police Department work closely on issues in the city parks.
The patrols, the improvements and improved maintenance have helped improve behavior at the park, Lynn said. All of that is just the beginning.
The Community and Economic Development Department, along with Public Works, is planning more than half a million dollars in improvements, primarily funded by grants, in the coming year.
They include additional paths, lighting, playground equipment and a hard-surfaced plaza in front of Weddle Bridge.