Plan to have full-time police patrol at Atlanta parks

ATLANTA - Child play, not gunplay is the atmosphere Atlanta City Council leaders want families to experience when they decide to visit the public parks this summer. 

On Saturday, just ahead of Memorial Day, the pools are slated to open.

"They are shooting one another like there is no tomorrow," said Cleta Winslow, after listening to a briefing by police command detailing the more than two hundred shooting incidents so far this year."

"And some of those with the guns are teenagers," Winslow added. "We have to protect our young children."

She made those comments earlier in the week in support of Councilman Michael Bond's bill calling for officers to be committed full time to patrol the parks.

There are security officers in place now, but those guards primarily watch over what takes place inside the facilities. 

A question was raised about the Bond legislation having to do with a specific instruction mandating the mayor take action on park police. An aide to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms claims the bill needs to be rewritten in the form of a request to Bottoms to take action. 

Councilwoman Winslow wasn't buying the objection. 

"C'mon, we are really talking semantics now. Can we help the people? Can we help the people?" Winslow implored her colleagues to take action immediately. 

And they did, approving the Bond legislation in the way he wanted. 

It must still be given the green light by the full council. 

Separate from the council action, police command this week circulated a memo asking police officers to sign up for extra jobs at $45 an hour to do patrols at the city parks.

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