“Not uncommon for us to see used needles around parks and the bike path.”
It’s been an ongoing issue for years now and while it’s improved of late, they aren’t solely found at Hawthorne.
“All the parks associated along bike path you will see it. The more popular the park the more it’s a problem,” said Budreau.
MPD Officer Arturo Vega is also familiar with a lot of the people who frequent our parks. He patrols the downtown area. Vega said the city passed an ordinance in November 2011 to crack down on
misconduct at parks.
Public urination, discharge of a weapon, and drinking in public are just a few of the violations in the ordinance.
“It moves them to another park or somewhere else because they know if an officer makes contact with them its discretion of officer to give citations or they get arrested and go to jail.”
MPD said their busiest parks are Hawthorne, Fichtner Mainwaring, and Alba. With most cases involving an ordinance violation, disorderly conduct or theft.
“Sometimes it’s difficult for us to make a dent with what’s going on with this behavior,” said Vega. And each time you get excluded, the amount of time you’re banned from that park increases.
“People get excluded, trespassed for 30,80,180 days.”
It can lead to a permanent ban, even jail time. And with busy gang activity this fall, MPD’s keeping a close eye on areas like Union Park.
“We have really upped our patrols in this area to try and deter that from happening.”
And Officer Vega said despite the constant activity at our parks, he still takes his young daughter to visit them often.
“Most Medford parks are safe and it’s our job to keep them that way.”
It’s been one month since the remodeled Hawthorne Park reopened and while police admit they’re still plenty busy there, they said they have seen a difference.
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