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

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSIONS: 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.