At Night Out Against Crime at Central Park Precinct, Police Hear Concerns about Bikes

When one Auxiliary police officer at the National Night Out Against Crime for the Central Park Precinct was asked what residents were concerned about, he had one answer: “the bikes, the bikes, the bikes.”

The NYPD’s Central Park Precinct, which patrols the park’s 843 acres, set up its event at the Columbus Circle entry to the park, next to the Maine Monument. It’s different than all other precincts in that it has no actual residents within its borders. One politician who was making the rounds at Night Out celebrations was Upper West Side Council Member Gale Brewer who stopped by the 20th, 24th and Midtown North Precincts before hitting Central Park. She said the Central Park Precinct was special because it covers a park that draws 42 million visitors each year

Because their are no residents to react with, the Night Out celebration at the gate of the park seemed smaller than those hosted by other precincts across the city, some of which blocked off entire streets for big band performances, bouncy castles, and barbecues and sometimes dozens of sponsors. At the Central Park Precinct, a half dozen folding tables flanked the park entry, featuring groups such as the Park Rangers, NY Road Runners, and, somewhat surprisingly, I Found Shalom, an organization whose volunteers told the Spirit they had been invited to canvas.

For refreshments and entertainment there was a ball toss game, a cooler with soft beverages, a portable speaker, and an ice cream truck where kids 12 and under could get a free cone. And there were opportunities for a photo op with a member of the NYPD’s canine unit.

Officers from the NYPD Auxiliary Police, a uniformed volunteer group that patrols communities to assist local precincts, were manning a booth to recruit new members. Folks in the booth said that the park entry location at West 57th Street and Central Park West was chosen because heavy foot traffic would mean more residents to engage with. What it seemed to mean, really, was cycling traffic to contend with: In the first hour, the officers asked dozens of cyclists to dismount as they passed through the gathering on their way into or out of the park. And while the purpose of the event in other precincts was to connect with the local community, it is a little different in precinct with no actual residents. Not too surprisingly, the auxiliary officers conceded almost everyone they spoke to turned out to be a tourist.

A young male runner politely accepted recruitment papers for the Auxiliary Police and then gave them to our reporter.

The National Night Out tradition originated not from police departments but from community watch parties. In 1981, a Philadelphia resident and volunteer with the Merion Community Watch Pro­gram, Matt Peskin, founded the National Association of Town Watch (NATW). In 1984, NATW introduced the National Night Out Against Crime. At first, it was simply an evening where residents sat outside with their neighbors to discuss their concerns about crime in their communities.

Now, communities across the country host the annual Night Out on the first Tuesday of August (In some states, it is reserved for October to avoid the summer heat). The events—which take the form of block parties, cookouts, parades, and festivals—are billed as a chance to engage with police in a positive context and to promote community policing.

One current concern in Central Park is safety on the paths. E-bikes that can whizz around the park at speeds well above the 15 mph limit are particularly controversial. A few recent collisions have made headlines, including a July 7 accident that left one jogger in a medically induced coma. This year to date, the precinct has issued 97 summonses to e-bike riders, as opposed to 20 in the same time last year.

Deputy Inspector Timothy V. Magliente, the commanding officer of the Central Park precinct, said he recently received additional support from the NYPD Chief of Transportation to address this issue—additional officers assigned to monitor bike use. When asked what strategies were working, he said the department had “safe” ways to enforce cycling laws, though he wouldn’t expand on what that meant. Council Member Brewer told the Spirit that when she came to the Night Out, she spoke to Magliente about the recently comatose victim, whose family the precinct had been keeping in touch with. She also said her office is constantly receiving complaints from pedestrians about “how hard it is to go to the park, walk in the park, and cross the roadway.”

Julie Harvey is an Upper West Side resident who was struck by a cyclist in the park in May. Harvey was struck not by an e-bike rider but by a regular cyclist who had been accelerating down a curving hill and failed to obey the stop sign at the bottom, where Julie was ambling across a crosswalk. Harvey came to the Night Out event to speak to officers about what she described as an urgent need to get cyclists under control. And she came with signs hanging from her neck. One warned cyclists they better get insured because injured pedestrians would be suing them for all they were worth. Another featured a photo of her bloody head after the injury.

To keep this issue top of mind for the police, Harvey attends Community Council meetings, which take place almost monthly at the precinct’s historic building at 86th Street Transverse Road. She also belongs to a West 72nd Street group that is advocating against a proposed two-way bike lane on that street. (The project is currently facing an injunction in state court.)

As expected in a city where the relationship between communities and police is sometimes strained, there was some tension at this event. The Maine Monument had been a flashpoint for anti-police graffiti in 2021 during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. Even on National Night Out, one protestor yelled at officers as she walked past.

At another point, an officer that anti-bike protestor Harvey was talking to suddenly stepped away from the conversation to ask an approaching cyclist to dismount. “Yes!” Harvey exclaimed. That was what she needed to see more of.