Peachtree City police officers are beefing up their presence on the city’s 90 miles of cart paths. With recent training now complete, all regular, reserve and auxiliary officers have been trained in the use of ATVs or other vehicles to provide stepped-up patrols.
“With the return of a new school year the timing is optimal to implement a plan to increase our presence on the cart system and other high visibility areas around the city,” said Chief William McCollom.
McCollom said 2014 data indicates that cart path collisions involving injuries have increased through the end of June by 167 percent over the same period last year.
McCollom in an Aug. 1 letter to officers noted that complaints about the operation of golf carts by some residents and the lack of visibility of officers on the paths has become an everyday occurrence. His word to officers to increase their presence on cart paths included the reminder that, for the first half of 2014, officers have spent 40 percent less time on path patrols compared to the same time period last year.
“It is understood that priorities have shifted with a decrease in available manpower over the past several months. However, with the addition of several new officers, the pendulum has now shifted to allow us more latitude to make this a priority assignment,” McCollom said.
McCollom said shift supervisors have been given greater latitude to have officers on the specialized patrols.
“We are fortunate enough to have several effective tools (ATVs, bikes, etc.) to assist (officers) with making this type of control more efficient,” McCollom said.
To that end, McCollum said the time spent by officers on cart paths will primarily focus on the more heavily traveled areas.
“As of now, 100 percent of regular and reserve and auxiliary (officers have been trained) on the ATVs and approximately 20 for the bikes. The idea is to have as much visibility as possible on paths and on the street,” said department spokesman Mark Brown.
Officers will be assigned to paths as scheduling permits with that ultimate goal of having someone on the path system at all times.
Peachtree City has more than 11,000 motorized carts registered and more than 90 miles of cart paths.
