The South Jacksonville Police Department and Chief Tim Mann are looking out for the village.
With the Prairieland Heritage Steam Show and Fall Festival last weekend and the Village Celebration this weekend, Mann and the Village Police force are keeping their eyes on all the happenings in the Village.
Chief Mann offered some new information that has become important in recent weeks at Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. Mann first explains where things stand with a new weather siren.
“Our vendor notified us that the siren was ordered about six weeks ago. It is in stock and ready to be installed. We’re working with two local companies that have agreed to assist with getting that installed and put into place. The pole which the siren will go on is, I believe, roughly 60 feet tall. We’ve picked a preliminary location, and we believe that will be the siren’s spot once approved by the Board.”
Chief Mann says that a no-parking ordinance may be coming soon near Loves Drive and Magnolia.
“The village is incredibly blessed to have the amount of traffic at Love’s. That being said, we’ve been having a fairly serious issue over off Loves’ Drive and Magnolia Drive where the intersection there essentially becomes a one-way street and 18-wheeler traffic is almost impossible in that condition. I wanted to bring the idea of a no-parking ordinance for this designated area to be able to regulate the intersection without needing an officer there 24-7.”
Finally, Chief Mann offers the latest as the Village Police force is hoping to add a K-9 unit.
“I just want to make sure that our department has the Trustees’ approval at every step of this process. We’re looking at a different path than the one the city of Jacksonville took with their K-9 unit. They sent the officer to actually physically train the dog completely, from the narcotics seizure to standard article searches. We’re looking at getting a dog that is ready to go. Our officer would spend one week with him so they can become acclimated to one another and then they will come back to the village and begin.”
The officer assigned to the K-9 position will train for one week and become acclimated with his new partner at a training facility in Arkansas.