Louisville Metro Council passes ordinance establishing Parks Police Department

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Louisville Metro Council took a step on Thursday night that will allow the city’s park ranger program to boost recruitment and have access to the resources most law enforcement agencies do.

Right now, Louisville’s park rangers have the same authority as police officers; they can arrest citizens and tow cars.

But the ordinance passed will give them access to resources from the state and make it easier to recruit, something council members say is needed.

“We have 125 parks in Jefferson County, and we have one park ranger that’s trying to oversee all of these,” said Metro Council member Dan Seum, Jr., who represents District 13 and sponsored the ordinance.

And, recruitment for more park rangers has been difficult, Louisville’s Chief Park Ranger, James Brown, said at Thursday’s Metro Council meeting.

“There are people who have applied, or had the part-time, who were retired officers, either LMPD or other places. Those certifications were out of date, and I could not get them the training that they need to get them back to active,” said Brown.

The reason for this: Louisville’s park rangers currently have a “special police” designation, preventing access to resources from the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council. These resources would include state-administered training that would keep officers’ certifications up to date.

The ordinance passed Thursday will ensure the Louisville Parks Police Department is fully established.

Council members say even though LMPD patrols the city’s parks, they often have their hands full with other calls.

“It’s very often that the police just does not make it to the parks, they just don’t,” said Tammy Hawkins, who represents District 1 on Metro Council. “Especially with all of the enormous amount, and millions of dollars, taxpayer dollars, that’s been invested in these parks... they need to be protected.”

And for regular park goers that WAVE spoke with, just seeing an officer in the park more often would make a big difference.

“I think that would be great to see that presence around the park. Especially, you know, we have kids sometimes around the park, we have pets, we have the elderly,” said park goer Motselisi Moseme.

“The few times that we’ve seen the park ranger circle through, everybody, I think, just naturally feels safer knowing they’re in here,” said another park goer, Drew Butler.

These extra resources for park rangers will build on funding already approved and will not come at an additional cost to Metro Government.

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