Brooklyn Park police take new measures after chaotic scene Friday at River Park
Brooklyn Park police speak on violent weekend
Brooklyn Park police are making plans to keep the city’s parks safe after a massive crowd of hundreds caused chaos Friday night.
On Monday afternoon, police put up a mobile trailer camera at River Park for more security.
Parkgoers said the weekend violence won’t keep them away from the area.
“Being outside with the weather, the community, the family, and it’s all just really great,” said Kelly Yarborough, River Park visitor.
Like the kids on the playground and the cook on the grill, Yarborough and her family are not letting the sunny skies go to waste.
“We’re super excited. It’s a windy and perfect day,” she said.
But last Friday night was far from perfect.
“A lot of chaos, a lot of people in vehicles that were driving recklessly and things like that,” Brooklyn Park Police Department spokesman Elliot Faust said.
Around 7:45 p.m. Friday, officers were called to River Park following reports of a large group being “rowdy.”
Law enforcement found nearly 400 people, most of them juveniles, in the park fighting.
They called in resources from Hennepin County and the Minnesota State Patrol to help with the large crowd.
“There was some sort of social media elements of this that helped get the word out that there was an event going on at the park,” Faust said.
It didn’t stop there.
Shortly after, police followed about 200 people from the group to Noble Sports Park, where the fighting continued.
Officers ordered everyone to leave.
“There needs to be consequences for people whose behavior does not align with what society expects, and I think that’s where the hard conversations need to go,” Faust said. “It really boils down to the simple concept of if there’s consequences, people will think twice about being involved in things that are illegal.”
BPPD is hoping to put a stop to large groups causing chaos before it becomes a trend in the city.
Faust said they’re having conversations about solutions to keep the parks safe, and one of them is the mobile trailer camera installed on Monday.
Officers want to reassure the public the parks are safe to visit and say these were isolated incidents.
Source: KSTP
