They’re undermanned, under- paid, and underequipped. And it doesn’t look like they’ll get help anytime soon.
The officers who patrol Austin’s parks are the most neglected law enforcement officers in the city. The murder that occurred last month on the Barton Creek Greenbelt thrust the issue of parks security into the spotlight for about 48 hours, and then promptly disappeared. While there are many community activists clamoring for more officers to be added to the ranks of the Austin Police Department, no one is championing the needs of the Park Police, even though they are paid less and their officers cover five times as much territory apiece as APD.
Over the past two years, the number of arrests and citations issued by the Park Police has nearly doubled. During that same time, the acreage under their purview has grown by more than 50%.
The city currently has 30 patrolling officers who are responsible for 193 different parcels of land covering 14,346 acres of parkland and 7,566 acres of preserve land spread throughout Travis County. In addition, they are responsible for 40 miles of shoreline on three different lakes and 45 miles of hike and bike trails. And while that is more than enough to keep the officers busy, the policing problem they face is getting bigger.
This month, the city manager’s office will release a draft management plan for some 12,000 acres of property within the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve system (BCP), all of which is under the jurisdiction of the Park Police. The draft management plans will allow limited recreational access to the BCP lands. With that access will come the need for more police presence.
“We are growing as a city,” says Warren Struss, the Park Police administrator. “And there’s no doubt parks are growing in use. Along with that use comes many of these issues that have to be dealt with on an enforcement basis.”
Comparing Various Police Jurisdictions | |||
| Acreage | Officers | Acres per Officer | |
| Austin Park Police | 21.912 | 30 | 730* |
| Houston Parks Dept. | 20,000 | 75*** | 267 |
| Austin Police Dept. | 139,392 | 981 | 142 |
| AISD Police Dept. | 1,345 | 40 | 34 |
| UT Police Dept | 1,350 | 164** | 8 |
| Travis Co. Sheriff | 512,000 | 110 | 4,654 |
| *Excluding preserve lands: 478 acres per officer **68 peace officers and 96 security officers ***50 HPD peace officers and 25 park rangers Sources: City of Austin, Travis Co. Sheriff’s Office, APD, UTPD, AISD, PARD, HPD | |||
Operating on a $1.3 million budget, Struss’s department — which falls under the Parks and Recreation Department — has been shrinking while the city’s park system has grown. In 1987, when the city had 36 officers in the Park Police, there were 11,115 acres of parkland. Today, with 20% fewer officers, Struss’s forces patrol an area nearly twice that size. According to Struss, on a given Sunday afternoon, half of the Park Police officers on duty will be assigned to problem locations in East Austin, including Givens Park, Rosewood Park, and Festival Beach. The rest of the officers will be assigned to lake patrol or bicycle patrol.
While Struss wouldn’t give any estimates of how many more officers he needs, other members of the Park Police were clear. “We need at least 30 more officers,” says Sgt. Mike Hargett, “and I’d put 10 of them on the greenbelt.”
But attracting more officers to the Park Police won’t be easy. Even though they wear the same uniform, drive the same cars and enforce the same laws, Park Police officers earn far less than their counterparts at APD. An entry-level Park Police officer makes $11.50 an hour. The same officer at APD earns $12.17. And the wage disparity grows as officers achieve higher rank. Hargett, for instance, with 17 years of experience, earns $18 per hour; at APD he’d be making $25 an hour. In addition, APD officers are civil service. Park Police officers are not, even though, in some cases, their work may be more dangerous. Unlike APD officers who can count on backup officers to arrive within a few minutes, backup for park officers who patrol the Barton Creek greenbelt may be 30 minutes or an hour away.
The wage differential in the parks police force is most evident among the officers who patrol the BCP. The two BCP patrol officers are the lowest paid members of the Park Police, earning just $9.81 per hour, even though they are the department’s most highly trained personnel. The preserve officers receive training on endangered species management and are registered emergency medical technicians. “They are the lowest-paid peace officers in the city,” says Mike von Wupperfeld, the supervisor of the BCP patrol unit, who adds that both officers are looking for other jobs. “I expect to lose both of them within 90 days,” says von Wupperfeld.
In addition to the low pay, von Wupperfeld’s section of the department has a confusing management structure. While the rest of the Park Police budget comes from the Parks and Recreation Department, von Wupperfeld’s funding comes from the Drainage Utility. That means von Wupperfeld has two bosses: one in PARD for police matters, and one in Drainage for budgetary and management matters.
Another problem is that Park Police lack up-to-date equipment. APD’s patrol cars have mobile data terminals, which provide extensive background information on suspects. Park Police cars don’t. And even though their radios often do not work when on the greenbelt, Park Police officers are not issued cellular phones to use as a backup.
Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and many other cities use their regular officers to police the parks. But there are no discussions afoot to change the command structure for Austin’s Park Police. Nor has the issue become a pressing matter at the council level. When asked about the opening of the preserve land to recreation use, Councilmember Beverly Griffith, a former member of the Parks Board, said she did not foresee a need for more officers. “I don’t think this is going to be a serious security issue or a giant maintenance issue,” she said.
Maybe, but the shortage of officers and the opening of additional preserve lands has led to some discussion about the creation of a citizen patrol unit that would carry cellular phones to alert Park Police of any problems on the trails. And while increased citizen involvement may help make parks safer, it won’t solve the underlying problem. “It’s not a complicated story,” says Hargett. “We don’t have enough people and we don’t pay the people we have enough to make them want to stay.”
This article appears in August 8 • 1997 and August 8 • 1997 (Cover).