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Police chief wants policy for party at the park
By CHASE SQUIRES © St. Petersburg Times, published April 12, 2001 DADE CITY -- Spring means people and police at Naomi Jones Pyracantha Park. And on Tuesday, it meant a return to the debate over how the city should deal with the informal Sunday afternoon gatherings that draw hundreds to the park on the city's east side. At Tuesday's commission meeting, Police Chief Phil Thompson told commissioners the city needs to find ways to put order to the weekly get-togethers. No one seems to organize the Sunday parties, but invariably, someone shows up to play music, and hundreds come to dance, play basketball, eat and relax. And some, the chief said, drink alcohol at the city park. That is a problem, he said. Debate over the parties has come up before, but the city has never formed a policy. In 1999, regulars at the parties complained that the police presence was too intense. A few weeks later, a man was shot and a car was sprayed with bullets. Thompson told commissioners that about 150 people gathered at the park on April 1, and some were drinking alcohol. One man was arrested after a disturbance. The chief said there were 400 people at the park on Sunday, and the department put 11 off-duty and reserve police officers on patrol there. The overtime cost the department about $500, he said. "What concerns the police department is that what the officers have been told by the people attending every Sunday evening is that they come to Dade City because our city allows this type of concert activity," the chief wrote in a memo to commissioners. "Brooksville and Bushnell do not." Thompson said Wednesday that he would like to see someone step forward as an organizer and that he wants to see some way for the group to pay for the police and rescue protection needed to keep people safe. "I'm not picking on anyone," he said. "We want to work with them. We don't want to be confrontational." Commissioners asked the chief and City Manager Doug Drymon to find out how other cities regulate activities at their parks and report back to them.
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From today's Pasco Times |
