Either way, the park district police department is required to provide traffic control and enforcement as well as security, which large amounts of people and personal property always call for. Next, there is routine patrol. The activity level for routine patrol of any given park district law enforcement agency will usually mirror that of the local agency that surrounds most of its park property. Thus, if a park area is surrounded by a high crime area, you can expect some of that high crime attempting to seep onto park property. If this occurs, park police officers will experience some of the same levels of activities as their local counterparts.
Parks surrounded by low crime areas usually have a lower level of crime.
However, low crime areas can develop some of the most serious criminal activities since most criminals know the police are less likely to be watching or working low crime areas. In addition, if a district has an intergovernmental agreement with one or more of the local police agencies where a district has property, park police officers can find themselves backing up local units on all types of crimes as well as providing solo services when other local units are not available. The details are as varied as the agencies themselves. Some may mirror regular law enforcement agencies with positions in administration, training, crime prevention, detectives, or anti-crime. Others may have more of a park law enforcement angle such as a conservation enforcement unit, which looks for poaching violations on park property or various undercover operations.