Macungie Police Get More Authority Over Borough Parks

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to correctly identify the Macungie Police Chief. 

Macungie Borough Council extended the ability of the Macungie Police Department to keep order in the borough's parks at Monday night's council meeting by agreeing to a simple amendment to the borough's Parks and Recreation ordinance, according to Borough Manager Chris Boehm.

The borough has been having a problem with vandalism and loitering in Brookfield Park, Boehm says, but the police department hasn't really been able to help with the issue because the Parks ordinance did not authorize police to act within Brookfield Park.

That's why Boehm says she and Macungie Police Chief Ed Harry asked council to consider changing the amendment to include Brookfield and Willow Street parks. Willow Street Park also wasn't covered by the original ordinance, she says.

"By including these parks in the ordinance," Boehm says, "the police department will then be able to enforce the dusk-to-dawn curfew in these parks as well as the Flower Park and Spruce Street Park, which are already included in the ordinance."