STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The men and women who patrol Staten Island's Hurricane Sandy-decimated beaches say the voiding last week of a trespassing ticket may simply bring more scofflaws to the sand and put them in harm's way. <\/p>\n
\"We don't want the public to think it's okay to be there, and it's safe to be there,\" said Joe Puleo, chair of the Parks Committee for the DC 37 union, which represents the enforcement officers for the City Department of Parks and Recreation. \"This is a dangerous area.\"<\/p>\n
Parks Department Commissioner Veronica White last week called to apologize to an Ocean Breeze couple, after they received a $50 summons for taking a stroll with their two young daughters on the beach near their home. As reported in the Staten Island Advance, the couple said they had not seen any \"do not enter\" signs, and said they had been needlessly harassed by the officer. <\/p>\n
But after the ticket was wiped away with an apology, officers are concerned even more people will feel it okay to flout the rules, Puleo said.<\/p>\n
City beaches will not officially open until Memorial Day weekend, according to the Parks Department. <\/p>\n
\"To have had children there is unconscionable,\" he said. \"There is still a lot of debris. There are huge trucks that are constantly there; they are moving around; they can't see little kids.\"<\/p>\n
The officer who issued the ticket -- a 12-year veteran of the force -- had weeks before the Feb. 24 incident with the family, seen a colleague taken to the hospital when his foot was sliced open with a nail. It happened in the very spot where the couple's two young girls were playing, said Puleo.<\/p>\n
The officer who wrote the ticket is not what Puleo called a \"heavy summons writer.\" <\/p>\n
\"They don't have quotas; they don't have to write summons,\" he said. \"Typically she gives warnings in situations of this sort. Some other officers are more proactive when it comes to writing summons.\" <\/p>\n
Even so, the officer was reprimanded for her handling of the emotionally tense situation which unfolded on the beach near the intersection of Naughton Avenue and Father Capodanno Boulevard, said Puleo.<\/p>\n
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Staten Island beaches still unsafe, say Parks officers concerned about trespassers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Continue reading