Concerned Neighbors:
Our Greenbelt Guardian Ad Hoc Security Committee has been working with members of the Austin Parks Police, the COA-Austin Police Department (APD), the Parks Department, a City Council aide and assistant City Manager, to create more effective strategies to address the safety issues on the greenbelt. We all agree that there are some dangerous situations created with illegal encampments and fires and drunken behavior. The recent reportings of campfires on the greenbelt certainly serve to confirm these concerns. This report is intended to provide us all with the information we need to help keep us safer.
Glee Ingram
Greenbelt Guardian Coordinator
Police Initiatives on the Greenbelt
As a result of our meetings, the Parks Police and the City APD are initiating some coordinated policing efforts in the greenbelt area, especially near our two trail entries, with emphasis on the Spyglass/Homedale trail where the encampments and drunken gatherings on the rock flats got out of control last year.
On March 8, the Police Dept. released a Fox News video clip of a police raid conducted near the rock flats area. They announced a policy of “no tolerance” for ignoring the ordinance prohibitions posted: No Alcohol or Illegal Drugs, No Glass Containers, No Campfires, No Camping, No Dogs Off Leash. Numerous citations were given during the raid.
For the month of March, both the Parks Police and the Austin Police in our Area Command are coordinating efforts for more intense patrolling. The Parks Police are going down into the greenbelt two to three times a week to issue tickets. The Austin Police are doing “directed patrols” and establishing a “pro-active police presence” on the streets near Homedale and Spyglass, to monitor for alcoholic beverages being taken down into the greenbelt and for drunken driving upon leaving the park.
During this period, the Parks Police is sending weekly reports of their activities and findings to our Ad Hoc Security Committee. To further respond to our concerns, the Parks Police Chief and our APD Area Commander will attend the April BHNA meeting to answer questions and discuss policy and problems.
Our Role: Observe, Report, and Follow-Up
Our meetings with the police and city staff have helped clarify ways in which we in the neighborhood can more effectively communicate and coordinate with the two different policing authorities. We have an important role to play. Because so many of us frequent the greenbelt, we can multiply the “eyes and ears” that notice problems, and report them to the appropriate authorities, and follow-up to see if the problems were resolved.
Protocol to Report Problems
The Parks Police is our contact for all non-emergency greenbelt safety or security problems. Call 311 to report these “non-emergencies with a low need rating” which allows a two hour time frame to respond. Because the 311 number is a “work in progress” in the City’s communications system, be sure to give your name and telephone number to the operator and ask for a CADD number for your report, so that you can follow-up to see what action was taken.
Call 911 for any current or imminent emergency, such as an ongoing fire, or an active encampment with evidence of a fire pit, or drunken and threatening behavior, or an injury. The 911 number gets directed to either the Fire Department or the COA-APD, depending on the problem being reported. Again, be sure to ask for a CADD number for your report so you can follow-up to find out what the response was.
Part of our neighborhood frustration has been the feeling that we are speaking into a dark void when we call in reports, with no assurance that our message was heard or responded to. It is important that we create an active feedback and communications loop when we report problems. With the CADD number, we will be able to track what action was taken.
Back-up Reporting:
The Parks Police Department has given us an additional communication tool to complement the 311 and 911 reporting system. We can email directly to the Parks Police with a description of the problem(s) we wish to report. These emails are read each morning and afternoon. The email address is: parkpolice@ci.austin.tx.us. Having this supplemental communication tool will give us more direct control over the language used to describe the “who, what, when, where” that we wish to report, and will assure that the Parks Police is fully aware of the problems being reported to 311 and 911.
We also think it is important to keep our District 2 COA-APD Officer abreast of the problems that we are reporting in the greenbelt. Our current contact person is Duke Kinley His contact information is: dwayne.kinley@ci.austin.tx.us and 974-4281.
It is also helpful to post the problems reported on our bhna listserve, to keep us all abreast of the kinds of problems being reported and the responses made to them.
Locating the Problem:
Since there are no “street addresses” on the greenbelt, we have some challenges in describing the exact location of the problem being reported. To start, we should identify the nearest trail access address. Following are the street addresses for all of the greenbelt trail access points:
Homedale Access: 2101 Homedale Dr.
Gus Fruh Access: 2642 Barton Hills Dr.
Spyglass Access: 1500 Spyglass Dr.
360 Access: 3456-B Capitol of Texas
Gaines Creek Access: 3900 Frontage Mopac
Trails End/”Hill of Life” Access: 1710 Camp Craft Rd.
We can further refine our location descriptions by referring to the Fire Department Map and/or the Austin PARD Barton Creek Greenbelt map with its location descriptions (the flats, urban assault wall, etc.). These maps will be posted on our BHNA website for reference. We will be working further with the police to establish a common map of reference.
City Training for Neighborhood Watch:
The COA-APD holds a Neighborhood Watch Training session every second Tuesday of the months during the year, from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. These meetings help train people for what to watch for and how to communicate with the police, etc. They allow lots of questions and discussion for ways to improve the safety in our neighborhoods. The meetings are held at the South Substation at 404 Ralph Ablenado Drive, near Slaughter and South First.
Close Collaboration Can Make a Difference:
Very recently our neighbor Johnny Barnett was taking a walk and noticed the smell of cedar wood burning in the warm evening air. The wood choice and the weather contraindicated a fireplace as the source. He tracked the smell down into the greenbelt and saw a group of campers gathered around a fire.
He hiked back up the hill, called 911, reported the fire, and volunteered to meet the firefighters at the Homedale trail entry. Within ten minutes the firefighters arrived and donned their fire coats, which they filled with water, then trekked down the trail and put out the fire. The Parks Police also arrived shortly and issued numerous citations for illegal campi
ng and drinking. We all benefited greatly from this timely and coordinated set of actions.