Rapes, murders, robberies and assaults.  All of these violent crimes have been keeping the people of New York City on edge with this crime rate rising to 23%.

In the past nine months through March, these major crimes have been happening all over the parks of New York and people start to feel unsafe when they go to the park.  New Yorkers have now been walking through the city parks in groups, according to ABC7.

Hundreds of people were robbed and/or assaulted in the city parks in the nine months that passed.  Most of which occurred in the Manhattan area with a total of 278.  Other parks, however, have police there checking and protecting New Yorkers from becoming victims, specifically at Central Park.

In Central Park, the NYPD are unarmed and are scattered all around the area.  To protect their community, the police officers have a strong line of communication so that people can report a problem to the force and make sure that no one will get harmed.

Some parks become particularly dangerous when it comes to violent crimes, which include Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and Cortona Park in the Bronx.  Then over 200 crimes happened in these recreational areas, according to ABC7.

With the violent crimes rising in the parks, Geoffrey Croft, president of New York Parks Advocates, started to take a stand and see what he could do.  He states that the NYPD need to expand their patrols and place more officers at the most dangerous parks in the city, especially the Bronx parks.

“If you don’t have an adequate police force to patrol parks, it’s a recipe for disaster,” Croft said in NBC New York.  “You’re inviting the public into parks, but your not providing adequate security – and that’s what we’ve seen from this enormous spike in violent crime.”

For those who feel like going to the park anytime soon, be sure to stay alert, stay safe and try to have fun.

“Featured Image via Flicker/ZeroOne”