The St. Joseph Department of Public Safety has been hard at work protecting the peace this summer. Speaking to city commissioners Monday, Director Steve Neubecker said there were no incidents during the Fourth of July weakened or for the fireworks. He told us it took cooperation.
“The sheriff’s department patrolled the beach heavily,” Neubecker said. “We had our whole police force in for the weekend along with our reserve division. Very few complaints, very peaceful weekend. There were a lot of tourists in town, a lot of visitors. It was an awesome event.”
Neubecker said the department always has two officers assigned below the bluff. That’s after complaints from residents near Lions Park Drive back in April about speeding and noise. The new patrols have made a difference.
“There have been tons of positive responses. We’re hitting the roads heavily. As a matter of fact, I received a complaint last week that there’s too many officers going down Lions Park Drive. I’ll take that over the issue I had in April where we won’t there enough and the issues that were affecting that neighborhood.”
Neubecker told commissioners St. Joseph Public Safety issued 134 citations in June. A speed study in the 800 block of Lions Park Drive over 98 days found more than 108,000 vehicles went down the road, and the average 85th percentile speed was 24 miles per hour. He also told us police have addressed loud exhaust complaints by making citations for them un-waivable.
