JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville City Council will vote on Tuesday in an emergency move for an ordinance that would give $10,000 to extend a pilot program in the King and Park Street area of Riverside.
The ordinance money would pay for two off-duty officers to patrol the area on Friday and Saturday nights.
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Riverside is a popular place for people to visit. Whether it’s for a bite to eat or a night out on the town, there are a lot of options. Over the last few months residents in the area of King and Park streets have reported multiple issues.
JSO’s crime map shows 124 offenses over the last six months within a mile of King and Park streets. Those crimes include theft, simple assault, and vandalism.
Jim Love, former Jacksonville city councilman and current president of the Park and King Area Association, explained some of those issues.
“The major issues are the noise, drinking out of the cars, you know, drinking in public. Those are the two major issues. If they would go away, that would be fine,” Love said. “I’m gone by five o’clock. I don’t see it, but I certainly hear about it, and we’d like to get it taken care of.”
The neighborhood collected $10,000 from businesses to bring two off-duty JSO officers to the area between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. They’ve been patrolling for two months now but Love is hoped to extend that for another few months with $10,000 from the city of Jacksonville.
“It’s pretty expensive to have the off-duty police officers for four hours, and you have to have two of them, which is about little over $1,500 a weekend, so it’s pretty expensive,” Love said.
News4JAX spoke with Laurie Len, owner of Park Place Lounge, about her experience with the safety issues in the area.
“I would say, some fighting after close, people partying out of their cars, that sort of stuff,” Len said. “People who are not going to be a customer here.”
Since the off-duty officers have been patrolling, Len said it’s nice to have their presence.
“You can walk up and down the street. You don’t have to worry about anything,” she said. “Their presence is calming things down.”
With the money from the city, Love hoped the problems the neighborhood was experiencing would be resolved.
“We just want to match and do it for a couple more months, and then stop to see if it, if the problems go away,” Love said. “If they permanently go away, then we can stop it. There won’t be any need for it. So we’re just going to have to play it by ear after a couple of months.”
Len was thankful the neighborhood banded together to bring off-duty police officers to the area and she also hoped city council would approve the matched funds. But it’s still yet to be seen if it will completely resolve the issues residents and businesses were concerned about.
“I keep a good eye on this. I think a lot of other business owners do too. I think things are going okay. I’m hopeful, that’s what I would say, but it’s a wait-and-see,” Len said.
City council will vote on this ordinance Tuesday. Jacksonville’s Neighborhood Committee unanimously voted last Monday in favor of the ordinance.