ABOVE: Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates (center, from Tuesday night’s Public Services Committee meeting) says parents cannot simply rely on the cameras to keep their kids safe at the park. Proper parental responsibility is needed, especially when it comes to if their kids are responsible and old enough to be at the park without supervision.
At the end of Tuesday evening’s (May 26th) Danville City Council Public Services Committee meeting, Police Chief Christopher Yates was asked about surveillance cameras in city parks. He stated that yes, they are up and working. But he also said that just relying on the cameras to keep your children safe is not the right approach. It’s also a matter of knowing if your kids are smart and responsible enough to be able to go to the park alone, or if they have proper supervision from an older sibling or other older person.
AUDIO: We’ve got to have our people that visit the park act responsible and behave; and make sure that they’re old enough to be able to go unsupervised. And when they are unsupervised, that their behavior matches that of a responsible youth; whether it’s a teenager or whatever. The person who’s responsible for the children; whether they’re at the park, the store, or anywhere else; is ultimately going to be their parents.
Chief Yates added that if your youngster comes home concerned about something that happened at the park, and are hoping it was caught on camera; parents should take the proper initiative.
AUDIO: If it’s a non-emergency, call the non-emergency number. If it’s an emergency, call 9-1-1; and we can get someone out there right away. Yes, if it’s happening at the park; there’s a good chance we’ll have some kind of video evidence.
The non-emergency number for the Danville Police Department is 217-431-2250.
