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Question: How much does it cost to send (for more than an hour), four cops, an NYPD SUV, two employees from Geese Police, two dogs and a canister filled with rocks to harass two geese on a frozen lake and an old woman bird lover in Central Park? Welcome to Bill de Blasio's New York City.
Currently at the frozen Boat Lake in Central Park, there is a tiny pool of open water south of the Ladies Pavilion. There are three domestic (flightless) ducks, a few mallards and two Canada geese who typically stay at the location.
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Despite this tiny population of birds on an otherwise frozen lake, Geese Police shows up early every morning to hurl a rock-filled canister attached to a long rope on the ice in order to harass and scare away the two geese. (For other locations, such as lawns, Geese Police uses dogs to chase Canada geese.)
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On Friday morning, January 16, upon completing the job of chasing off the pair of geese, the Geese Police employee got into his van to drive away when an elderly woman approached and tapped on his window.
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"Why are you doing this?" the woman demanded to know. "Harassing two geese and three ducks who cannot fly?" The Geese Police man ordered the woman away from the van less he would call the cops. She reluctantly complied.
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When returning home, the woman, Liliana, called me to relate the story. I assured her I would call the Central Park Conservancy to question and register complaint for harassing fewer than 10 birds on a nearly frozen over lake.
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"It's unlikely the Conservancy is aware that there are only two geese on the lake." I reassuringly told Liliana. "Hopefully, they will call off Geese Police when learning the facts. Its the only sensible thing to do."
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Some time later, I did call Caroline Greenleaf who is an official of the Central Park Conservancy to question what seemed, unnecessary, "cruel" actions and waste of financial resources. Greenleaf cooly assured me she "would look into the matter."
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I then called Liliana to explain the conversation and requested that she return to the Boat Lake the following day and report back what she observed.
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This morning (Saturday), Liliana returned to the Boat Lake before 8 AM and quietly sat on a park bench to observe the birds and whether or not Geese Police showed up.
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Within minutes, the Geese Police van appeared, but this time escorted by a large, NYPD police SUV.
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Two men from Geese Police got out of the van and proceeded to throw the canister on the ice to frighten off the two geese. They were accompanied and fully protected by three policemen and one policewoman who stood close by, guarding. When finally completing the job to scare away the pair of geese, one of the cops approached Liliana, still sitting on the park bench.
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"We understand from Geese Police that you are not allowing them to do their job?" the policeman questioned to Liliana.
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"Me?" Liliana proclaimed surprised. "I am an old, dying woman! What have they to fear from me?"
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The two then engaged in brief conversation; Liliana complaining of Geese Police harassing the two geese and flightless ducks and the cop telling her that he "loves animals," but people have to be able to do their jobs.
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Geese Police, still escorted by the police SUV and four cops eventually left.
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When Liliana related the latest incident to me, I was utterly shocked.
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"Four cops in an SUV to escort and protect Geese Police from a little old lady in Central Park?" I questioned. The whole story was incredible and yet I knew my friend wasn't making it up.
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Never, could one have imagined the mayor of New York City and the NYPD allocating finite police resources for such folly. One could only imagine the tax money squandered and actual crimes committed while four police are diverted to oversee goose harassment in Central Park and intimidate an old woman not weighing 100 lbs soaking wet.
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In my particular case, it was especially impossible to anticipate such scenario in light of weekly, angry protests against carriage horses, their drivers and passengers that have been occurring for years. Do those protests not try to "prevent people from doing their jobs" by shaming tourists into not taking horse carriage rides and calling drivers, "animal abusers?"
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How could one old woman questioning and protesting a wildlife harassment program in the park garner police intimidation while actions that have sparked near violence in heavily trafficked pedestrian areas do not?
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Neither Liliana nor myself called anyone names, expressed will to take away anyone's job (even Geese Police) or intimidated city leaders. We simply question the "necessity" to harass two geese and three flightless ducks on a frozen lake. But that apparently draws a SUV with four cops in Mayor deBlasio's New York City.
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One really has to wonder about the city this mayor is trying to create?
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Apparently a city where in just a few years, there will not be one carriage horse or one Canada goose anywhere in one of the nation's most prestigious parks.
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And little old ladies going to Central Park to enjoy what little nature there is left, had better mind their manners and P's and Q's. -- PCA
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4 comments:
Wow, times must be pretty good in Gotham if it can dedicate four of NYPD's finest to supervise a couple of bird harassers. Seems like it'd be more cost effective to pay some kids to go down there and throw rocks at them. I wonder what the typical response time is to a 911 call in NY? Doug, from the Gold Country, California
Thanks for your comment, Doug. Despite not aggreeing that kids should be employed to hurl rocks at park wildlife, it does raise interesting question -- which I have since used and added as opening to blog post. :)
I didn't advocate for enlisting children to do anything, just pointing out the idiocy of enlisting arguably the best trained law enforcement (don't know the quals of "geese police" but assume they have some skill sets, diplomacy obviously not among them) agency on the planet in the effort. Hell, in fact when I was a kid for us to do something like you describe at our local "duck pond" there'd been hell to pay. Great message your fearless leaders are sending to the youngsters. Doug, from the Gold Country, California
Thank you so much, Doug from the Gold Country for clarifying. I presumed that is what you meant the first time, but in case others weren't clear on it, I appreciate you taking the time to elaborate. Cheers and Carriage On! :)
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