US National Park Police Presence Intimidates Community
It was very, very, very hard for me to make the transition from 7 years of living in the wild lands of the west and on the road, to living in urban Philadelphia.
Mind and soul shattering.
The one place where I could find even minimal refuge and “open space” and natural vegetation was a tiny maybe 5 acre patch of land known at “Old Swedes”.
The noise of adjacent I-95 and local traffic rendered any attempt at solitude absurd. The noise was a disaster.
But at least I could walk on grass, shaded by trees, and let the dog off the leash to play fetch (Charlie is a champion blood line American Labrador retriever, from breeders in northwest Montana, Idaho and Washington).
Old Swedes is the one place where I and scores of dog lovers could let our dogs play and run free.
Of course, it is illegal to have dogs off the leash there, but that is rarely if ever enforced. I’ve seen US Park Police there 3 or 4 times over the last year and got only one warning.
We treat this place like our backyard – and that includes daily maintenance and removal of litter and disciplining other dog owners to respect the place. Other dog people realize and respect this special place. It is literally all good.
But now, even that compromised tiny parcel and moment of relief and dog freedom is in jeopardy.
Over the last week, the US National Park Police have been present, virtually 24/7.
I’ve seen them there several times over the last week. I tried to evade them a few days ago by early sunrise walks at 6:25 AM, but they showed up at 6:30 am.
Tonight, on Easter Sunday, I went at 9 pm – and was confronted by another US Park Ranger.
So I asked him what was going on and why he was there so often.
Was there something dangerous going on that the public users should be aware of?
He replied that it was a privater matter.
“Private matter”?
When I objected and said that everything he did was a public mater, he just walked away.
WTF kind of “protect and serve” is that?
The National Park Service and National Parks are under extreme threats from Trump and in desperate need of additional resources.
But policing Old Swedes must be the last on any rational priority list.