State Speed Enforcement Laws on DeKalb County Park Property, part 2

Rep. Jill Chambers gave me her opinion regarding State law and Major Horner of DeKalb Police, Special Operations promised to look into this further. Whether or not speed enforcement can ever take place at Brook Run, the DeKalb Police Department is now aware of the problem and I trust they will do what they can with the resources available to address my concerns.

Below is the text of the e-mail I sent to our State Representatives, County Police & Legal Officials as well as our County Commissioners.

Thanks for your reply Jill but the issue at hand is that DeKalb County is stating that they can not do speed enforcement in county parks supposedly because, State law prohibited it. The speed limit currently set in the park by county statute is appropriate and not an issue. No one could ever claim that DeKalb County has attempted to gain revenue by citing an excessive amount of speeding violations; if that were the case they would have more then the 15 or so (a guess?) radar / laser units assigned to only the motorcycle patrols and you would see them constantly (think of Doraville) on the roadside. 40-6-180 does mention the special hazards and the need to generally slow down for them, however; I do not believe this to be relevant to the current situation. Since you & I both agree that parks do include the special hazard of children playing & biking in close proximity to traffic, much like a school, maybe 40-14-8(b) should be modified as I suggested to include roads adjacent to or inside a park?

If the State Legislators aren’t able to figure out why the County can’t do speed enforcement in a park; maybe the County Police & Legal Staff could inform us why they think they are unable do speed enforcement? If a traffic engineering investigation needs to be conducted on Brook Run or an application for a permit needs to be sent to the Department of Public Safety prior to any speed enforcement; these are both valid and understandable reasons since no one has raised this subject previously and the park is still relatively new. If this is the case, I ask that these items be proposed.

I understand that Brook Run with its 102 acres with a main street (seven tenths of a mile long) that twists and turns, up and down with the contours of the land is very different from many of the other county parks and is therefore a challenge to operate, secure & patrol.

Major Horner of DeKalb Police Special Operations sent me a note stating that he is investigating this subject and I trust his management team together with DeKalb Legal Staff will do what needs to be done to get speed enforcement on County property (Brook Run in particular) if it is possible to do so. If for some reason, speed enforcement is not allowable because of the road grade or another technicality, then Majors Horner & Calhoun have other enforcement tactics that can easily be taken inside and around the park.

Thank you all for doing what you do. As elected officials and/or public servants, I’m sure you do not hear that enough but your service to the community is truly appreciated, thank you.

John Heneghan