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Central Police Department to patrol BREC's Frenchtown Conservation Area after drowning last month
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BATON ROUGE - Earlier this summer, a swimmer went missing after jumping from a railroad trestle into the Amite River.
"People come here and jump from the train trestle and that appears to be what happened. Once they hit the water, there's no telling what they get trapped by and it might hold them underwater," Central Police Chief Roger Corcoran said.
That's why BREC and the Central Police Department are working together to prevent any more tragedies. Central PD posted to Facebook announcing that police will patrol the Frenchtown Conservation Area, where the drowning took place.
"We've had some tragedies at that park including a kid who jumped off the train tracks so we're hoping to deter that with a police presence," Central Mayor Wade Evans said.
Besides being a presence and enforcing park rules, Assistant Police Chief Cliff Ivey says that this is also about safety. With record setting temperatures and heat waves beating down Baton Rouge, officers will be available to provide assistance to parkgoers in dire situations.
"Our officers are not just a part of Central Police Department, this is a life saving organization, many of us are firefighters and we have advanced skills in emergency medical training," Ivey said.
These officers can be seen every weekend until Labor Day, and heads up, they are authorized to wear shorts on duty.
"We have a very serious job but sometimes we take ourselves too serious so we want the public to have fun, but know we're gonna do our job and do it well," Evans said.
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