Dog parks cut crime; so let’s build some
Those pushing for more dog parks in Boston are playing the crime card — pointing out that a park filled with people and their pets cuts down on drug deals, violence, vandalism and loitering.
It’s a card well worth playing.
In Fields Corner, one of the main arguments local residents made as part of an effort to raise $200,000 for Dorchester’s first dedicated dog park was that it would reduce crime, the Boston Globe reports.
“This is considered a crime hot spot in Boston,’’ said Paige Davis, who lives near Ronan Park, where the dog run will be located. “People who are out walking their dogs are going to meet everyone using the park. If you want to know what’s going in the neighborhood, it’s the dog owners who know everything.’’
Residents in Charlestown have been making a similar argument in their push to build a dog playground in Paul Revere Park. And J. Alain Ferry, founder of BostonDOG, said his group has been making the anticrime argument in its push for a dog park on Boston Common.
“Certainly one of the most appealing aspects of a dog park’’ is the antic-rime component, he said. “It’s going to help clean up the neighborhood, and you might not have a lot of people loitering or late night cruising.’’
City police, the article reports, like the idea, too.
“It’s an effective tool,’’ said Boston police Superintendent William B. Evans, who heads the department’s bureau of field services. “People with dogs who are out in the neighborhood – that’s more eyes and ears for us.’’
Boston has only three parks where dogs can play off leash – two in the South End and one, which is newly opened, in South Boston. Boston Common has some off-leash hours as well.
Posted by jwoestendiek July 1st, 2009 under Muttsblog.
Tags: boston, crime, deter, deterrent, dog parks, dogs, durgs, off-leash, park, play, police, public, unleashed, vandalism, walking
