| Newton MA News and Politics BlogRecently on this blog and elsewhere, I’ve seen comments and reporting, complaining that the deployment of police patrols to curtail swimming in Crystal Lake outside of the designated areas was “a waste” of police resources that, among other hysterial claims, might deprive junior from having enough time to learn the recorder.

So I called Aaron Goldman, Citizen Assistance Officer, in Mayor Setti Warren’s office who helped debunk the myth that the city is spending thousands of dollars placing a patrol car at the lake on a daily basis to chase away violators of the no swimming rules.

According to Goldman,  the Newton Police Department did not deploy added resources to patrol Crystal Lake last year. Instead existing on-duty patrols parked along Lake Ave, rather than say a different city street. And if or when there was a call, they would leave the lake to respond.  There may have been some particularly hot days last year when an additional officer has been called to supervise, but this has not resulted in adding shifts or overtime, he said.

I also asked Goldman if he could estimate the cost to taxpayers when first responders are called to the Crystal Lake in the event of a drowning or, as was the case last August, a suspected drowning that proved to be a false alarm. I’ll let you know what he says.