Last Saturday when it rained really bad the park became flooded as usual. I noticed several people who needed help, so I stopped. They were stuck in the low water crossings.
They all said they called SAPD and requested the park police only to be told therre was NO PARK Police to assign. Two hours later a Park Policeman showed up to help. SAPD never showed up! The Park Policeman told us that he was assigned to the linar creek (Salado) and left his assigned area to help Park Police district patrol which had previously made these type of police calls was re-assigned to the San Antonio River Walk Downtown..
I contacted Park Police at 207-8590 and was told this information was correct. Park Police District patrol which covers over 200 parks was now assigned to the riverwalk to meet staffing requirements for the RiverWalk.
I have checked the park every day this week and found that the park gates were wide open at 1 A.M. each night. These gate use to be closed by the Park Police at 11 P.M.
I stopped at the SAPD substation and spoke with an SAPD officer who told me they have calls for service holding everynight and do no have the officers to patrol the parks too! The SAPD officer showed me his LAPTOP computer screen and I counted over 40 calls waiting for an officer.
Call your city councilman and tell them "WE WANT OUR PARK POLICE BACK!" SAPD cannot proactively patrol the parks with that many calls waiting for an officer.
We need the park patrolled or it will become a haven for criminal mischief, gangs, and drugs.
