[Text by Ms. Schou]

(Aug. 20, 2014) -- 1.) The Park Patrol Staff at Bixby Park, although enthusiastic and friendly and well liked by park users, are too young and non-authoratative to discourage public drug use and drug dealing and other crime at the park. The public safety at public parks should be performed by someone of authority and mature, experienced with crime. "These are hardcore thugs," Commander William LeBaron once said of drug dealers at Bixby Park.

2.) Friends of Bixby Park stopped funding the first public safety program, called Park Ambassadors, set in motion earlier this year because it received multiple complaints from residents and park visitors who observed the Ambassadors were not doing their jobs effectively. It's $9,000 public safety donation from Mercedes Benz of Long Beach is going toward paying for one hour of park ranger service on Saturday and one hour of service on Sunday through the end of the year.

3.) FOBP and neighborhood associations around the park were promised that the Park Patrol would carry walkie talkies to communicate directly with the LBPD. This would distinguish the Park Patrol from Park Ambassadors. When the Park Patrol Program was launched Parks and Rec informed us that the Park Patrol would not be carrying walkie talkies after all.

4.) City officials and LBPD have urged park visitors to call 911 if they see illegal activities at the park. The Park Patrol are required to call LBPD's non-emergency number.

5.) There have already been a few instances in which Park Patrol Staff called LBPD and did not get a response at all. Public safety at parks is a low priority when LBPD are dealing with equally important crime.

One more problem:

6.) Park Patrol's job is to walk around the park and communicate positively with park visitor, call LBPD if they see any illegal activity and walk around the Rec Center Building to inspect it for broken windows, repairs, etc. Parks and Rec is labeling Park Patrol a public safety program, but really it should be part of the Rec Staff job description.

A BLUFF PARK MOM'S OBSERVATION OF PARK PATROL

[Text provided to LBREPORT.com by Ms. Schou] -- Hi Claudia,

I just wanted to give you some feedback on the Park Patrol folks. I was at Bixby yesterday afternoon [exact date not indicated] and I introduced myself to PARK PATROL PERSON. She is very nice and I asked her for her feedback about how things are going so far. She said it's going OK. She said that typically if they see someone engaging in smoking or drinking, they ask them to please cease what they're doing and then they'll make one more round to see if they have complied. She said often what happens is that the persons put away their cigarettes or what have you, but as soon as the Park Patrol is a good distance away, they pick up where they left off.

At this point they would make a call to PD. She seems really sweet, but I will say this at the risk of sounding sexist: She is young and petite, and I'm sorry, but if I were her, I would not want to approach grown men to ask them to stop smoking or drinking. She even indicated that she feels that she needs to be cautious because she works at the rec center beyond her Park Patrol duties. A little later I saw the other gentleman, PARK PATROL PERSON (I believe), making the rounds through the perimeter of the park.

This morning, I passed through the park on the way back from a run. I met two more Park Patrol employees, PARK PATROL PERSONS. They were nice, but PARK PATROL PERSON 1 did not give me the impression that he took the job seriously. I did not see him in action, but that was my gut impression based on the way he carried himself when I introduced myself to thank them for taking on the role of keeping our parks safe. PARK PATROL PERSON 2 was much more friendly and engaging. They all seem to be about 21 or so.

Obviously, these interactions were short. I think we'd have to stay at the park all day to observe how well they are doing their job.

A BLUFF PARK DAD'S OBSERVATION OF PARK AMBASSADOR

[Text provided to LBREPORT.com by Ms. Schou] -- Another good example I have was last Saturday morning at 10am I took the boys to the park and there was a man (who appeared to be homeless) walking through the park with one shoe on drinking out of a small glass bottle of alcohol. Then I noticed PARK AMBASSADOR less than five minutes later sitting on a bench looking at his phone.

There have been multiple times we've been there when you can smell pot in the air coming from the skate area.

I have to be honest that it's plain disappointing having such a wonderful park do close to our house but very rarely go there due to the overall environment.

Thanks for listening but wanted to share my experiences.

A BLUFF PARK MOM'S COMPLAINT DURING PARK AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

Yesterday [my husband] took the girls to Bixby and there was a group of young men near the playground who were smoking pot out in the open, with plumes of smoke (as [her husband] described it). He called the police but no one ever arrived. Eventually the young men finished what they were doing and moved on -- it was frustrating to see them act so brazenly.