Raleigh police announce new Greenway task force
Alright good morning
Thank you
Thank you very much for all of you for coming
out this morning for our launch of our parks and
greenways even it's a great day to be out enjoying
our parks
We have a very short program this morning
Um we have a number of speakers but we'll be
speaking very briefly so that we could get you back
to your during your day father's Day in juneteenth
So uh first I do want to introduce our first
speaker this morning
Stormy four Counselor Stormy four is with District Dean was
appointed the city council in 2020
She serves as vice chair of the growth and Natural
resources committee and as a member of the safe vibrant
and healthy community committee
She's been a great supporter of RPG
It's my pleasure to introduce counselor for Good morning everyone
Thank you for coming out on this great occasion
We are very supportive of what the chief is doing
implementing this new greenways program and uh very supportive of
Raleigh Police Department as well as our park staff who
have been doing a tremendous job
They've gotten us through Covid and we want everyone to
come out and enjoy our green spaces and we appreciate
you tuning in today
Thank you Councilor ford and thank you for your support
and counsel midnight
Thank you for joining us today and for your support
and for your leadership and speaking of leadership it is
my pleasure to introduce Chief Mestalla Paterson Police Department
Thank you Lieutenant Borneo
So good morning and thank you for being here today
as we celebrate the long anticipated launch of the Raleigh
Police Department Greenway and Parks unit Parks and Greenway unit
this unit of course is a collaborative with the city
of Raleigh's Parks recreation and Cultural Resources Department and one
that could not be possible without the vision and the
support of our mayor our city council and the city
manager's office
And certainly this unit will not be successful without the
partnership of our colleagues at P
R
C
R
Their interim director scott pain is with us today and
he will be speaking in just a second
Um I'd like to recognize my team for the tremendous
job in building this unit and getting it stood up
and stood up so quickly
Um two major gunner steve gunner our special operations commander
and his team
Thank you for a job well done
All I did was say that we want the unit
launched on this day and somehow he made all the
magic happens
So thank you for that in our pursuit to be
the safest city in the country
It is important that those who enjoy our parks and
greenways not only feel safe but that they are indeed
safe that when a family decides that they want to
come for a walk in one of our parks or
somebody that is training for perhaps a marathon or half
marathon decides they have to get up early in the
morning and come running that they are protected and safe
from victimization
So the formation of our parks and greenway unit is
designed for that very purpose and while the unit's presence
will help to deter and prevent crime
Our personnel here are also responsible for interacting with the
public so that we can continue to build those strong
and sustainable relationships throughout our communities
Our unit's gonna be composed of a sergeant a supervisor
along with a complement of officers to include our mounted
unit
And this unit will be supplemented by our dedicated volunteers
who patrol the greenways
They will be out strongly educating and encouraging encouraging those
who are visiting our greenways to secure their valuables to
prevent them from being stolen
You will see our officers on foot they will be
on patrol on bicycles and you TVs on our horses
as well patrolling the 100 plus miles of greenways that
we have in our great city
Please do not hesitate to approach our officers to speak
with them and to engage them while you are out
and about
Our operational times will vary will vary seven days a
week different times throughout the day
Different shifts throughout today and of course we're not gonna
be able to cover all the greenways and all the
parks all the time but we are going to be
visible as much as possible because your safety is paramount
to us
I am excited to get our unit off the ground
to get going
I know the officers who are a part of this
unit as well as our volunteers are ready to be
full swing with our unit
I'm also grateful for the partnership with the Parks Recreation
and Cultural Resources Department
And I'm confident that our combined efforts will result in
a win for the city of Raleigh at this time
I'm gonna ask our interim director um scott pain to
just share a few remarks with us scott
Thank you chief
Good morning and welcome
As you can see the park is very busy this
morning
Raleigh's residents love their park system
They realized that it is a critical infrastructure for their
health and wellness
Part of that feeling comfortable using that space as a
sense of safety
We have always had a wonderful relationship with our colleagues
and uh the Raleigh Police Department
And we're very excited and thankful uh that City council
supported this effort in developing a special unit to focus
on The more than 10,000 acres and over 118 miles
of trails so that people do feel comfortable
They do feel relaxed
They do feel welcome and they feel safe in our
park system
We're very thankful for Chief and this team of officers
that will be supporting our residents when they use the
park system and excited for this wonderful relationship to continue
Thank you
Thank you
Director Peyton Thank you very much for your partnership and
of course thank you to City Manager Marshall Adams David
for her leadership in getting this unit off the ground
Uh that concludes our presentation for this morning
We will be available for questions
Thank you very much for coming out and enjoy your
day
Yeah
Okay
The light go Yeah see you guys on the greenway