BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Park police in Wood County will soon be supplied with an extra layer of protection. Park board members approved $10,000 for the purchase of seven semi-automatic rifles.
Director Neil Munger explains members of the force are actually already carrying these firearms on their own account.
"This is not a change in policy for the park district in any way whatsoever," Munger said. "Our officers have actually been carrying the weapons for a few years now. This is simply just a matter of purchasing the weapons for the officers to carry."
As far as why Park police need these weapons, Munger says they can be put at just as much risk a city police officer or sheriff's deputy.
Park police are generally responsible for observing the parks in their jurisdiction. But in Wood County, they have the ability to respond other places if need be, as they undergo the same training as other law enforcement.
"We are peace officers, we have the potential to come across anything any other police officer in any jurisdiction would come across," said Chief of Wood County Park Police Todd Nofzinger.
Many park departments supply their officers with equipment needed for the calls they respond to. Metroparks Toledo has rangers who are armed police officers, but they do not carry semi-automatic rifles. Munger says while the rifles police will get are semi-automatic, they are not military weapons.
"Where a lot of agencies are just within the village limits or city limits ours are county wide," Munger said.