Atlanta city council member pushes to resume police patrol at parks
Atlanta police to resume patrol at parks
Atlanta police officers will be back in the city's parks soon after a three-week-long absence. Officials say the patrols by off-duty personnel were originally suspended because there was no money to pay them. Now, a city councilman who started the project tells FOX 5 he is pushing to make the park assignments permanent.
ATLANTA - Atlanta police officers are set to return to city parks this weekend.
The off-duty patrols were suspended late last month. The fund that has been used to pay for the day and night dedicated patrols dried up.
"Because the program was so successful," says Michael Bond, "the fund was overused with requests to do more".
The council member pushed for the 2023 program following a number of serious crimes at various parks.
He took a lot of calls from community leaders who wanted to know what happened to their park police officers.
Bond said the park improvement fund, which pays for the extra duty cops, was increased by the Dickens administration.
Is there enough to sustain the security program long term? Bond believes there is, saying it should be permanent.