P.O. Serrano Playground

Olmstead Ave. bet. Turnbull Ave. and Lafayetter Ave.

Bronx

Directions via Google Maps

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

On January 31, 1992, Police Officer Hilario Serrano (1963-1992) was in the elevator of his mother’s building, on his way to a birthday party, when he became the victim of robbers’ gunfire. He was 29 years old. A 1993 Local Law officially changed the name of this property from Castle Hill Playground to Police Officer Hilario Serrano Playground.

Officer Serrano arrived in the United States from Puerto Rico at the age of six. As a young man, he joined the Guardian Angels. In 1982, Serrano became an auxiliary policeman, earning a medal for compassionate assistance to a rape victim. He graduated from the Police Academy in 1986 and was assigned to the 43rd Precinct in the Bronx. There he established the “Night Out Against Crime” program, designating the first Tuesday of August a night for outdoor community activities to take back the streets from local criminals. The program continues to this day.

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