Park Patrol

Behind my accommodation at my uni back home in the US is this wonderful bushwalking trail. I can’t count the number of hours I’ve spent walking or biking up and down the trail. The scenery is great and it’s so nice to get a taste of the great outdoors while still in the city.

While the trail was great and I loved walking, I almost never walked alone. I thought for the longest time that I was being paranoid and that nothing could really happen to someone on the trail. I was wrong. As a journalism student I learn about a lot of horrible crimes but the topic one day was violent crime and city trails. It turns out that there had been many horrific crimes committed on the trail that I love so much. This included one murder and several rapes. Determined to help make the trails safe, I set out to decide what could be done.

Fate must have been with me because not a week after my journalism class about trails and crime I saw a poster on campus about a city organisation called the Park Patrol. I sent an email to the address on the poster and heard back right away. This group, funded by the city, is made up of volunteers from all around who are concerned about park safety and want to make a difference. During the training session a police officer taught us about how to report suspicious activity and what we should look out for while on the trail. Each volunteer was outfitted with a bright yellow t-shirt and a photo badge so we could easily be identified as Park Patrol members.

The purpose of this story is to point out how simple it often is to act. I have found that if you see a problem there is often a group that has seen it as well and is already in place with which you can volunteer. It’s really simple to just volunteer your time (who doesn’t like free labour) and you will gain skills that will serve you well in the future.