Reclaiming Public Parks and Public Health: Community-Led Safe Passages and Physical Activity in South Los Angeles,...

Safe passage interventions aim to enhance public safety and improve access to community resources, including public parks, in underserved communities. However, no studies have directly compared community- and police-led safety interventions with respect to park-based moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). To address this gap, we compared associations between Community-led Safe Passage Services (SPS) and the Los Angeles Police Department Community Safety Partnership (CSP) program with MVPA in South Los Angeles public parks.

We conducted structured observations of 3997 park users across 8 SPS and 9 CSP parks in South Los Angeles using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities and the Physical Activity Resource Assessment. We applied t tests, analysis of variance, and hierarchical linear models to examine MVPA across park intervention types.

Overall, MVPA was higher in SPS parks (P < .001). Black, male, teen, and adult park users exhibited significantly higher MVPA in SPS parks (P < .001). A hierarchical linear model controlling for sex, age, race, and park conditions indicated that Black park users were significantly less physically active in CSP parks (P = .05). Conversely, Black park users had significantly higher MVPA in SPS parks (P = .034). Intervention type was a stronger predictor of MVPA than park features and amenities, whereas incivilities were negatively associated with MVPA (P < .001).

Community-led safety interventions may promote physical activity among Black park users. These findings suggest that community-led public park safety models are a promising approach for advancing health equity.