Catching The Poop-etrators

Now that the bad guys terrorizing Flushing Meadows-Corona Park patrons have been caught, Parks police can go back to tending to the important details:

With the arrest of three suspects in a string of attacks — including the machete murder of Carlos Flores and the beating of Jae Woo Park who is still in a coma — the Parks Department has re-assigned its employees responsible for park safety to another task: counting how many people dispose of their dog’s waste.

These NYPD-deputized park cops, part of the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP), said that the police have almost disappeared from the park and the PEPs, rather than keeping a close watch on the park, have been keeping a tally on dog owners who clean up after their canines.

. . .

The Parks Dept. acknowledged the new task but said the park cops’ goal is to ultimately catch violators. “Beginning this February, plainclothes officers are stationed in five parks per borough to monitor and issue summonses for any canine violations,” the e-mail read.

The several PEP officers interviewed said the lack of surveillance, particularly in Flushing Meadows, fosters an environment that makes crime easy to commit.

For example, on a recent Sunday, two out of the three officers on duty in Queens were assigned to track people who cleaned up after their dogs in Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village and Mafera Park in Maspeth. No one was assigned to patrol Flushing Meadows, a PEP officer said.

Location Scout: Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.