A lot of hubbub has being going around Independence today after a video of fights at Cler-Mont School Park, 19009 Susquehanna Ridge, surfaced.
The source of the tapes, Tina-Wyatt Rockers of the Susquehanna Fort Osage Neighborhood Crime Watch Group, said she has no regrets about going to the media with the tapes.
“No, I don’t have any regrets,” Wyatt Rockers said Thursday. “I’m glad I did. (Independence Police Chief) Tom Dailey called me today and put me in touch with a major and a captain who I’m going to work with. I think we are going to get something done.”
What Wyatt-Rockers said she wanted done was more patrol in the Susquehanna and Fort Osage area. The fights, she said, are a recurring theme at the park.
“I want more patrol, period,” Wyatt-Rockers said. “We don’t have officers like they do in the Englewood (police sub-station) area and I think that we should. I think we need to have somebody here that provides a (police) presence.”
Independence Police Capt. John Cato said the department is more than willing to work with Wyatt-Rockers, her group and other citizens of the area to maintain a safe environment. Cato said the department understands the need for residents there to feel protected.
“I think the issue is the people over there are frustrated that the people involved in those fights are not being caught,” Cato said. “If this was happening in my neighborhood, I wouldn’t like it either.”
Wyatt-Rockers showed The Examiner 18 pages of 911 calls to the Cler-Mont Park area from August of last year until Aug. 1 of this year.
“Every time the neighbors call 911, they then call me,” she said.
Cato said most of the time when officers respond to disturbance calls in the area, suspects or offenders are long gone.
“Those are Priority 1 calls,” Cato said. “When those guys hear the sirens, they’re out of there.”
Cato said the park is a widely used facility, and with the good sometimes come the bad.
“I would not flat out say the park is a problem,” Cato said, “it’s a widely used park. Along with all the good, you are always going to attract that element of people that wants to create problems.”
