Politics & Government

Commissioner: Security is Lagging at Short Beach

Commissioner says the back parking lot of Short Beach Park is turning into a hub for drug activity.

Short Beach commissioner Karen Daden spent her Sunday morning at Short Beach Park.

But instead of a calming walk on the sand or serving to win the set, she was collecting baggies used for packaging pot and other drugs.

At the Short Beach commission's meeting Monday, she took the dozen or so baggies out of an envelope and splayed the paraphernalia out on a table for the commission to chew over.

"We're paying for security at the golf course and beach and there is no security," Daden said.

Director of public works Maurice McCarthy said that security system is no longer in place. During the summer season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, a two-person security team monitors the town's parks, he said. After Labor Day it's the job of regular police patrol, McCarthy said.

Daden said it took her less than 30 minutes to find the dozen baggies in the back parking lot of Short Beach Park, next to the fifth hole green of the adjacent 9-hole Short Beach Golf Course.  

"I lived in Bridgeport for 20 years and I was very active on the East Side," said Daden, who joined the commission a year and a half ago and has lived in Stratford since 1994. "When you start seeing things like this, you can't let it wait. You got to start doing something now."

Daden said the two-man security team that stopped patrolling on Labor Day is not qualified for the responsibilities of the job.

"They have no authority, they carry no gun," she said. "They come at 4 o'clock and that's it. That's not when the troublemakers come out."

McCarthy said the duo typically makes the rounds of the town's parks until 1 a.m. "If they happen to see groups of people that are not behaving appropriately, they notify the police department," he said.

Councilman Thomas Malloy (R-9) said any post-Labor Day drug activity at the back parking lot of Short Beach Park shows a lack of Stratford police patrolling in that area and the officer responsible should be written up.
 
Since Daden joined the commission less than two years ago, she said she has had her phone line tied up with Short Beach Road residents calling her with complaints about people drag racing, playing loud music and climbing and running all over the golf course. In the last couple months, however, there's been an increase in late-night complaints, Daden said.

Most of the phoned-in activity happens between Thursday and Sunday, between the hours of 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., she said. Daden said part of the problem is that a gate, which is supposed to block off the back parking lot, is sometimes left open.

"There's nobody of authority in a uniform that comes down there," the commissioner said. "This is an expensive piece of property, taxpayers' money needs to be protected."

Daden said that pins on the golf course have been stolen and the late-night visitors chip from the green, which causes damage to the short grass.

Toward the end of the meeting last night, Malloy said he emailed Mayor John A. Harkins' office and that the mayor's office will get back to the commission about policing at Short Beach Park by the end of the day Tuesday.


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