Parks to Be Designated as Drug-Free Zones

In an effort to eliminate drug sales and drug use in public areas, all of the city’s 42 parks have been designated drug-free zones.

A new ordinance will stiffen penalties for anyone arrested and convicted of selling drugs at parks, including adjacent to public parking lots and on sidewalks. Signs designating parks as drug-free zones will be posted in April.

Police Capt. Marc Hedgpeth said that posting the signs “puts the criminal element on notice that the city won’t tolerate drugs at the parks.” Anaheim “has drawn a line in the sand,” he said. “City parks were intended for family recreation and members of the community.”

When parks are posted as drug-free zones and the ordinance is in place, Hedgpeth said, anyone convicted of drug-related violations will have one year added to his or her sentence.

Community Services Supt. Steve Swaim said that in 1993 the city worked with school districts and the business community to designate all public schools as drug-free zones.

“This is Phase 2 to make sure that parks are signed as drug-free zones as well,” Swaim said.

Swaim said that, though drug sales are not a problem in all city parks, “I don’t think any area is immune from this activity.”

Hedgpeth said that two city parks in central Anaheim have had the most incidents of illegal drug activity. At Pearson Park, 38 people were arrested last year on charges of selling drugs.