Holiday weekend brings out increased patrol by officers

ALBANY — Memorial weekend is when a lot of people love to be outdoors with their families, or just walking through a park downtown. To head off possible disruptions on those days of relaxation, the Albany Police Department will be launching increased patrols downtown and throughout the city.

“This is pretty much the kickoff to summer,” said Mark Scott, Albany deputy police chief. “We’re expecting a lot of people downtown the entire weekend and all the parks are open. We’ll have officers on four-wheelers and on foot, so people should see a pretty good presence. We hope the community will come out and have a good time.”

Scott said although Memorial Day weekend is historically a family-oriented holiday, and not one associated with a lot of alcohol, he cautioned those who may be planning to drink while driving.

“We encourage people to have fun, but to have it responsibly,” Scott said. “We don’t want to interrupt their holiday with a drunk driving charge.”

Special attention will be given to the monuments at the downtown Veterans Memorial Park, Scott said, especially after World War II and Vietnam War monuments were sprayed with paint around Memorial Day last year.

“We never learned anything about that incident,” Scott said. “No one ever came forward on that, but we’d still love to know.”

Scott said that although surveillance video cameras were present near the site last year, none of the cameras were turned in the direction of the park.

“After that happened, a couple of the cameras have been repositioned,” Scott said.

The Georgia State Patrol will be especially vigilant for the three-day weekend, according to Sgt. Dana Harnage with the Albany GSP, although additional units won’t be assigned to duty.

“We know that more people are off from work or school, or they’re on the road traveling,” Harnage said, “so we’ll be watching closely.”

Harnage said troopers would pay close attention to drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol, speeding drivers or even those who violate seat belt laws through midnight Monday..