By Celia Bernhardt | cbernhardt@queensledger.com

In the wake of the horrifying rape of a 13-year-old girl in Kissena Park a month ago, Queens representatives are calling for additional safety measures in the area. 

Councilmember Sandra Ung held a meeting with fellow electeds — Assemblymember Nily Rozic, Assemblymember Ron Kim and representatives for Congresswoman Grace Meng and State Senator John Lui — along with representatives from the NYPD, Parks Department and Education Department, and two principals of nearby schools to discuss the concerns. The five politicians sent a letter to Mayor Adams on Friday outlining takeaways from the discussion. 

“The horrific sexual assault of a student at East-West School highlighted the urgent need to take action, but the reality is that for far too long, parts of Kissena Park have been a place of fear and danger rather than a space for enjoyment,” the letter read. “There have been prior sexual assaults and attempted rapes in the very same park, which is directly across the street from where more than 2,100 students study every day.”

The assault last month rattled residents throughout the borough. 25-year-old Christian Inga was charged with first-degree rape, two counts of kidnapping, predatory sexual assault, and more after his arrest on June 18. Local community members detained and beat up Inga after recognizing him from photos circulated on social media. 

Inga allegedly threatened two 13-year-olds — one girl and one boy — at knifepoint, forcing them into a secluded area of the park and tying their wrists together with shoelaces before carrying out the assault and stealing their phones. It happened at 3 p.m., just after the children had left school. 

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, in a June 19 press release announcing the charges, wrote that the crime “strikes at the very core of our society.”  

In their letter to the Mayor, Ung and fellow representatives argued that a lack of lighting and visibility from nearby streets left the space particularly prone to crime. 

“We know that the NYPD has limited resources and cannot always have officers in any specific area, so we need to attract more foot traffic to increase visibility,” the note continued. Still, the electeds went on to write that the 109th precinct, geographically the largest in the five boroughs, has a “pressing need” for additional officers, especially bilingual ones. It also called for assigning two Gator vehicles to the precinct. 

Other suggestions called for physical changes to increase safety and visibility: installing additional cameras, speeding up Parks’ two planned capital projects, and installing emergency call buttons or phones in the park.

“Given how dense the woods are in this section of the park, it is difficult or impossible to see the center of the park from its outskirts, which contributes to the danger,” the letter read. “These emergency devices could be set up both on the existing concrete path between Colden and 146th Street, as well as on the path near the Meditation Garden and along the planned Greenway.”