Orangetown PD Prepares for Parade

The. Pearl River St. Patrick's Day Parade will keep the Orangetown Police Department very busy.

Officer Harold Johnson knows that well. He runs the one-man office of emergency management for the Orangetown Police Department, so he plays a key role in keeping things running smoothly before, during and after the parade.

"It’s the first time out for a lot of families who have been stuck in the house all winter long," Johnson said. "It’s a lot of work but I like seeing the results of the hard work by all the organizations involved."

Johnson said that the Orangetown Police will use a National Command Model for Sunday, meaning that all emergency services will be coordinated through one office.

That means working with departments in and outside of Orangetown because so many will be occupied with the parade. For example, nine different fire divisions will be in charge of the areas normally covered by the Pearl River Fire Departments while they are out for the parade.

"We will have 23 outside ambulances from about 17 or 18 different EMS agencies for coverage of the parade route and the Pearl River ambulance responding areas," Johnson said. "In addition to that we bring in multiple mutual aid police departments from around Rockland to provide traffic control, crowd control and police responses needed during the parade. What we do with this plan, besides making sure parade itself is taken care of and the people watching parade are taken care of, is we have to make sure the rest of the people who live in Pearl River not at the parade have continuation of service and that’s what the plan does."

Johnson said that more than 100 police officers, 40 firefighters, 40 EMS responders and 30 DPW workers will be dealing with the parade and surrounding coverage areas. That said, they have years of experience in dealing with the parade and most of the spectators have been there many times as well.

"It does make the process smooth," Johnson said. "People come back to the same areas to watch the parade. They have learned where they can and can't park. They can't just pull into town at 12 p.m. and watch the parade. That just isn't going to happen."

The parade starts at 1:3o p.m., but parking becomes an issue long before that. The only designated parking areas for the parade are handicapped spots—a municipal lot on Washington Avenue and in the rear of HSBC Bank.

Illegal parking is often an issue with the parade. There are spots all over town that will be temporarily marked as illegal. Johnson said that two years ago one of the fire trucks stationed in town had to be taken off duty because cars parked illegally around it, making it impossible for the truck to move if it was needed.

This leads to one of many requests Johnson said officials would make of parade goers:

• "Make sure you park in a legal parking space," Johnson said. "If it says no parking, it may be a temporarily posted no parking sign. The reason we don't want people to park in certain places is so we can have the continuation of services.”

• Stay behind the barricades. "One of the biggest things we ask is for people to stay behind the barricades," Johnson said. "The people marching have to have enough room to get through. If (spectators) go past the barricades, the marchers can't go through."

• Do not bring or purchase silly string. "There is actually a town ordinance," Johnson said. "We don't allow the vendors to sell it. It is not to be sold or possessed at the parade. Silly string can be damaging to the vehicles, it is very flammable and it can spook the horses and we do have horses in the parade."

• Observe laws against open alcoholic containers and drinking in public. "We stress the law every day, but you will see signs up on the parade route notifying people of the open container law," Johnson said. "Open containers are the biggest thing we look for and drinking in public is a violation of our town code. If they are under age, that much worse. There are actions from a verbal warning up through arrest that can be taken, and I've seen all of them taken."

Johnson said that crowd behavior is always a concern with so many people. There were approximately 70,000 people at the parade a year ago and with good weather expected, there should be another large turnout Sunday.

"If the crowd behaves, the cops don't have to do that much," Johnson said. "We will be there to take care of the people who do not behave.

"For the most part, it's a fun family parade and it makes it easier on us that it is."

There also will be more police officers on duty than usual after the parade.

"We have extra police officers scheduled to deal with after-parade issues," Johnson said. "We also have other areas in not just Orangetown, but in the county, that people would migrate to for the bar scene after that. We are cognizant of that."

Johnson said they have a plan each year, which they then revise based on what happens at each parade. Next year could have an added factor—it is the 50th anniversary of the Pearl River parade.

"We're starting to talk about that already," Johnson said.