Making Shell Creek Park safer

Island Park residents gathered at a Civic Association meeting on Nov. 10 to discuss a new topic of concern in the community — safety at Shell Creek Park.

The IPCA brought together Inspector Rick Capece, commanding officer of the 4th Precinct; John Zappolo, the park’s supervisor; and Raymond Rhoden, deputy commissioner of the Town of Hempstead Parks and Recreation Department. According to IPCA President Patti Ambrosia, the group’s main concern with the park is the safety of local children. “I think that there is drug dealing going on there,” Ambrosia said after the meeting. “I’ve been there for fights ... People’s belongings, cell phones — anything you don’t have on your body gets stolen.”

Capece said that the precinct had received 18 calls to 911 operators from Shell Creek Park since June 1 — five reporting youth disturbances, one for a fight, one for a disturbance with an arrest, one lockout, two larceny reports, five for first aid, one for harassment, one wellness check for the park, and one unknown call. “That’s very little for a park,” said Capece.

And Capece had more news for residents. After Ambrosia called the police weeks ago reporting possible drug sales, the precinct dispatched plainclothes officers to the park, where they made six drug-related arrests, mostly of local youths.

Shell Creek is a Town of Hempstead park in the Barnum Island section of Island Park. By law, people cannot be barred from entering a public park, much to the chagrin of residents who attended the meeting. According to Zappolo and Rhoden, troublemakers in the park can be told to leave, but they cannot be kept out permanently.

Zappolo said he believed that many of the problems the park faces could be solved if children there had more supervision. “I just left the park,” he said at the meeting, which started at around 7:30 p.m., “and there were no parents there.” Zappolo said that on most nights, the park has an influx of youths at around 10 p.m., an hour before the park closes. Then he and John Lucas, the backup supervisor of Shell Creek Park, have to clear all the kids out at closing time.

“We’re undermanned,” Lucas said.