ALBANY — After losing officers to better-paying jobs at municipal agencies, the ranks of the police force for the state parks system have reached “crisis” levels, jeopardizing public safety, according to a union leader for the security workers

Daniel De Federicis, executive director of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, called on state officials to address the staffing issue immediately.

“Despite the PBA’s repeated call for state officials to devote additional resources to proactively preventing crime by enhancing the viability and profile of law enforcement personnel, the state Park Police remain an understaffed and reactive force,” De Federicis said in a July 28 letter to state Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey.

The seriousness of the situation was illustrated this summer, De Federicis said, when a recently paroled rapist menaced a woman and her two children at Peebles Island State Park in Saratoga County. The nearest park officer at the time was 17 miles away, working at a Rennselaer County park, he noted.

The threat to the woman and her kids was contained, DeFedericis said, when Waterford police officers responded and took the man into custody before the incident escalated.

A spokesman for the Office of State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said keeping the visitors to the parks safe is the agency’s “utmost priority.”

“New Yorkers should be confident that their State Parks are safe and thoroughly policed,” Randy Simons, the spokesman, said when asked about the union’s gripe.

Simons said his agency has authorized ‘full capacity” training academies for the past five years, bringing the total number of officers from 207 to 249 in that period. A sixth-consecutive training course will commence this fall, he added.

But De Federicis insisted that the state should be beefing up the ranks of park police as officers leave the force for “more-lucrative” positions with local police agencies.

According to the PBA, dozens of state campgrounds have no police officers on duty overnight.

The union also reported that in the western district of the state parks’ system has 37 officers covering 100,000 acres of land, including Niagara Falls State Park, the Buffalo Harbor, Letchworth State Park and several other parks along Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Simons said the state provides backup to the park police by hiring 105 public safety rangers during the summertime.

He said the park police offices “also routinely partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to police large-scale events and respond to emergencies.

Meanwhile, De Federicis urged Harvey to meet with PBA representatives to discuss the situation.

“The state needs to find ways to make this a better job because this is a problem that goes beyond money,” De Federicis said. He suggested the parks agency hire an outside consultant to study why so many officers leave the park police for other jobs.

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com