Concerned residents gathered at Glasgow Park Thursday evening in a town hall meeting to discuss safety concerns and a string of recent incidents at the park.
New Castle County Police Chief Col. Joseph Bloch spoke to a sizable crowd, detailing efforts that the police department is making to alleviate worries over the safety of the park. These efforts include an increased police presence, rotating the Mounted Patrol Unit to the park and continued recruitment for a cadet program that’s been slow-moving since the spring with a lack of qualified applicants.
Some of the recent incidents include an assault on July 5 that raised eyebrows for a response time of over an hour, a shooting last month of a 16-year-old girl, and an arrest of a 48-year-old man who police said was planning to sexually abuse a girl back in May.
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Bloch said that the investigations into the shooting and the July 5 assault are both active and contain “promising leads.” He also expressed that the recent incidents are not related and not specifically committed because of the park.
“They’re kind of random,” Bloch said. “They’re just arbitrary things that happen here.”
“Absolutely, I feel the park is safe,” he added.
Residents worried about police response time
Multiple attendees of Thursday’s meeting questioned Bloch about the response time of police to the July 5 assault. A man who was walking at the park told NBC10 that three teens in ski masks attacked him, but police took over an hour to respond after two calls.
Bloch explained that since the man told 911 operators that the perpetrators had fled, it wasn’t cause for immediate dispatch. He said that a computer system creates an automatic order for the calls police respond to and that since the three teens had left the scene, the man was put lower on the totem pole for officers available to dispatch.
THE SETUP:Some residents feel Glasgow Park is unsafe. The county is addressing that Thursday
However, multiple community members rebutted with concern, asking Bloch if it would require another assault from those teens for police to dispatch immediately to the site of the call.
“Is there room for improvement? Yes,” Bloch said, referencing the department’s protocols and the automated computer system. “It’s a blessing at times and sometimes it’s a crutch.”
“I don’t feel safe coming here,” one woman said. “You can’t be free to enjoy your life.”
Other measures to improve safety
Bloch and New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer brought up a handful of strategies and possibilities to crack down on crime at Glasgow Park and help the public feel more safe.
Meyer said they are always looking into increasing cameras and license plate readers at the over-250-acre park, though he noted that adding cameras is “not as easy as it looks,” due to the size of the park and electricity needs.
Adding gates to the grounds was a topic brought up, a measure Bloch said can’t be done immediately but is certainly a consideration moving forward.
Multiple members of the public echoed sentiments supporting the addition of gates, specifically to crack down on incidents when the park is closed after dusk.
Statistics from a Tuesday public safety committee meeting were provided Thursday. As of July 7, 169 complaints stemming from Glasgow Park have been filed this year — 114 self-initiated by officers and 55 reported by citizens.
County Council President Karen Hartley-Nagle, councilman David Tackett and State Rep. Eric Morrison all spoke as well, offering their commitments to work with law enforcement to tighten up safety measures.
“We need to be ready for the next wave,” Tackett said. “We can’t let it take us by surprise.”
Bloch and the county representatives encouraged the public to keep tabs on the New Castle County Police Department’s social media pages on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed and up-to-date.
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Contact Konner Metz at kmetz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @konner_metz.
