St. Joseph launches new park safety initiative to reduce crime
Prajukta Ghosh
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The City of St. Joseph is rolling out a new parks and recreation safety initiative aimed at making local parks safer by reducing crime.
The program focuses on simple, preventative steps that help address safety concerns before problems arise.
Using a strategy called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, the city plans to improve sightlines, clearly define access points and keep parks well-maintained.
Terra James, a local runner, said she welcomes any changes to the city’s parks and recreation system, especially those aimed at improving safety.
“Depends on what you are doing and whether or not you feel safe going out at night but I will tell you if the city is going to work hard to increase those visibility in the park system, then that’s absolutely welcomed,” James said.
She noted that she prefers running during the daytime, referencing information from a city press release that found 64 percent of residents feel unsafe using park facilities at night.
A city survey conducted last spring showed that only nine percent of respondents felt unsafe during daylight hours.
“As a runner its really important. I love Krug and I will tell you a lot of people enjoy running Krug if they are going to have lights to Krug, it’s going to be huge, especially at nighttime,” James added.
James said well-lit trails would be a major benefit for runners, giving them a safer place to exercise and drawing people away from running on city streets and onto park trails instead.
She acknowledged that runners are often forced onto streets during colder months when frozen ground makes trails difficult to use.
“No one can control Mother Nature so adding lights to those parkway systems can be beneficial and it will show that the city is stepping up and saying we see the influx of runners and will do our best to keep them safe,” James said.
Park staff and police will team up for park walks, increase patrols during peak hours and improve lighting and litter cleanup to help parks feel safer for everyone.