CLAYTON – The Greenway trails in Clayton are one of the Town’s most popular attractions. Many pedestrians and cyclists frequent the trails daily. To keep these greenways safe and enjoyable, Clayton Police Department established a Park/Trail Unit in its Special Operations Division.
Officers in the unit patrol the greenways on ATVs, often stopping to share conversations or water bottles with the people they meet along the way. Their presence has helped reduce incidents along Sam’s Branch Greenway, Clayton River Walk on The Neuse, and more secluded connector trails like Salamander Loop.
Recently, a mother and her three children got lost for several hours on the Salamander Loop. Officer Revis Pounds recalled the story and how he was able to rescue the family from the summer heat. According to Pounds, the family had gotten turned around and had been wandering the trail for about six hours. Fortunately, Officer Pounds was able locate the family and lead them back to safety and water.
“Things would have ended much differently if we were not on the trail that day and did not get to them in time.” said Pounds.
The Parks/Trail Unit was officially established in February of this year with one officer. Since then, the unit has expanded to include four officers, two that are assigned full-time and two assigned part-time, which allows the unit to prioritize surveillance of the greenways and assist citizens when needed.
Officer Randolf Baity offered some advice on how to be safe while walking, running, or biking on the trail. He encouraged citizens to be mindful of their surroundings and look for identifiable landmarks and mile markers. He also suggested that trail patrons bring their cell phones if they are using the greenways alone.
Baity added patrolling the greenway is one of the many ways officers serve and protect Clayton residents.
“We want people to come out and enjoy these beautiful trails,” said Baity. “We want them to know that we are here. We want them to feel comforted knowing that we are patrolling the area.”
Nearly 212k dollars in salaries for a non-problem area. Again great PR but doesn’t handle the actual crime occurring in Clayton like nightly break ins to businesses and cars. This isn’t an issue with the police officers themselves just the over bloated budget without results or crime targeted policing.
A perfect solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
Within a matter of months an area that never required a constant police presence went from one to four full-time officers patrolling and doing exactly what? Unfortunately, a police presence no longer is a comfort to me instead giving me that uneasy feeling of what exactly are they policing. How many tickets for helmet, bike, parking violations are these “public servants” dishing out and what crimes are being prevented by their patrols. I can see why Clayton is now one of the most heavily taxed cities in NC and how that revenue is being spent.
There have been reports of thefts and assaults on the Greenway. Having a greater police presence is beneficial and makes the people using the Greenway feel safer. Why not attend a town council meeting and share your complaint. Makes more sense than to gripe online.
Videri Quam Esse, to seem rather than to be should be the motto of Clayton. I can gripe online to get people to think about the full picture rather than what the author or subject wants us to see. People who read these comments might think “yeah wait a minute, this seems like waste.” 212k dollars + benefits seems like an awful lot of money for 4 miles of pathing. Once again, my gripe isn’t with the dedicated officers of Clayton, just the waste of resources that could be used for other result oriented solutions.
Kevin- I have been to numerous town council meetings where public input is minimal and decisions are announced after they have been discussed behind closed doors. At least John and I took the time to “gripe” online and have an opinion about use of Tax $$.
God Bless Our Policemen.
People tend to forget that they have family too.
Is true that exist some bad apples that don’t deserve to be call Police officer, but at the same time they are millions of good policemen that are willing to sacrifice their lives. Anything can happen in any place at anytime. So please don’t be so unkind and quick to Judge our policemen.