By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper would like to see Orchard Park get a gate to help with problems they are seeing in that area.
"We've put multiple officers up there," Hooper said. "We have that as an extra patrol area and a selective enforcement zone. We've even, with some of the vandalism and stuff, this may sound silly, but we even put plainclothes officers out hiding in the trees with binoculars and officers in cop cars waiting around the corner for when this group shows up and starts causing problems so we could identify them."
The problem is the camera that is up there isn't helping.
"Because of the ring around that structure, we can't get a downward angle to see the parking area or the entrance so we could actually record tags coming in and going out," Hooper said. "We just can't get the proper angle. We'd have to get with him, but it would cost a significant amount of money to put a camera system up there whereby we could do that."
There is a group of car enthusiasts that likes to go up there that has tried to help, but unless someone is out there all the time, it's just not working.
"The best method would be to put a gate across there that we could close at hours, so that would obviously deny access to that park," Hooper said. "The biggest problem with that is somebody's got to lock it every day, somebody's got to unlock it every morning."
The only issue with that is being sure no one is out on the walking trails when the gate is closed at night, so it could involve considerable time on occasion. The goal is to bring a solution back in the next couple of meetings.