Crime Reduction after Course Installation - Need Data

Does anyone have any documents or research that discusses the reduced level of crime in parks once disc golf courses have been installed? Any literature, white papers or internet links would be helpful as it will help in discussions with parks managers.
Mark Janssen
Orlando Disc Golf Club
[e-mail]

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

I don't know of any research studies on this...It calls for one! There a tons of letters from Park Dept offcials stating that Disc Golf has...in fact, decreased Criminal activity.

I don't currently have any letter's...and the ones I did have were from he late 80's early 90's.


Others will surely have some materail on this...and more current.

[Chuck Kennedy]

In 1991, the S. St Paul, Minnesota Parks Department stated that until the disc golf course went in, they averaged $3000/year in vandalism. That dropped to zero for several years after the course went in.

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

Chuck Kennedy said:

In 1991, the S. St Paul, Minnesota Parks Department stated that until the disc golf course went in, they averaged $3000/year in vandalism. That dropped to zero for several years after the course went in.

I had that letter...and used it!!! LOL! Check with Tom Monroe..(He's on here). I believe he's the source that provided them to our course founder from which I inhertited them from.

[Jon Andrews]

I totally need that letter. Totally. Need. That. Letter.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

On another thread I started collecting various testimonials from parks officials, so we would have "bank" of them. It didn't garner help from anyone else, though, so I only have the one I got from the Ann Arbor city parks planner, Amy Kuras. But we have her permission to use her name with it and here it is, part of it is pertinent:

"The disc golf courses that have been built in two of Ann Arbor's parks have been a true success in many ways. Prior to the disc golf courses being built, both Mary Beth Doyle Park and Bandemer Park were hardly used by the public, even by neighbors of the park, because there was no one there, and that abandoned nature gave the parks bad reputations. At the recommendation of the disc golf community, both parks were targeted as places that would make great courses, and that would help turn the parks around. This indeed has happened, and both areas have been heavily used by disc golfers as well as joggers, bicyclists and families. In fact, Mary Beth Doyle Park had to be closed for the last two years for major construction, and we received a myriad of complaints because that part of town no longer had a course. In many ways, the sport is an ideal recreation opportunity for the Parks department as well; the course is inexpensive to install and maintain, and provides opportunities for a wide variety of users. It was a good 'bang for the buck' for the taxpayers of Ann Arbor, and is much appreciated by the users."
- Amy Beth Kuras, Landscape Architect, Parks Planning and Development, Parks & Recreation Department, City of Ann Arbor, Michigan

If anyone adds something like this, anywhere in the site, please "tag" it "testimonial" - thanks.

[Bill]

The City of Greenville SC might be able to provide some assistance but getting to the article the local paper published requires signing up/paying for their archives-

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=search&s_...(Timmons%20Park)

Timmons Park was not the place to visit after dark, unless you were a gay man looking to hook up in the woods. After a local TV station did an expose on the place, the city put in bike trails and asked Innova to install a course- that immediately ended the 'trouble' at Timmons.

[skinner]

When I was in Albuquerque, NM I was told that Roosevelt Park was a haven for drug dealing and drug use in the past. The park went through a renovation (several years ago), keeping the DG course intact. I do not know if the renovated park has been a success in reducing the crime it was known for, but it could be a place to start.

I did some internet research looking for positive articles abut the renovation...couldn't find any...yet...
I did find this one that was written before the renovation (January '03):

http://www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2003/01/21/Opi...

Found this in my searches...read the text under the word "Clues" (toward the bottom...something is hidden out there...spooky):

http://rooseveltletterbox.blogspot.com/

Lastly, you could leave a message with Sheila Kirkham here at DGRUS. She might know if reputation that Roosevelt Park had before the renovation has changed for the better.

[Chuck Kennedy]

I heard that the Kilborne course in Charlotte was installed because the neighbors bordering the park either asked the Park Depratment and/or the Charlotte Disc Golf Club to install a course to eliminate the unsavory activities going on in the woods there.

[mark ellis]

If the baskets are properly booby-trapped, the crime rate of basket thefts drops dramatically

[Mark Janssen]

Skinner, those 'clues' look very much like a national GPS based hunting type game where you have to find objects. Typically called "Geocaching". Looks like the park had/has some unsavory element. That college blog article was well done.

[MIDiscGolfer]

This would be a great letter to post so others can use it. We had a course ready to go in and the neighborhood blocked out of concern for the trees does anyone have enviromental impact info too?

Chuck Kennedy said:

In 1991, the S. St Paul, Minnesota Parks Department stated that until the disc golf course went in, they averaged $3000/year in vandalism. That dropped to zero for several years after the course went in.

[Mark Janssen]

Contacts at parks departments or leads also requested if applicable.
thanks