FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio — An agreement between the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department to add extra patrols to the Rocky River Reservation has ended.
Following the June shooting death of two people in the park, and two other gun-related incidents there in July, the Metroparks asked the sheriff’s department to add extra patrols to the area.
County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said those patrols began Aug. 8 and ended on Labor Day, when park activity begins to wane. She said the arrangement also provided support to the Metroparks at Edgewater Park during holidays and large events.
Channel 3 first reported in early August that two additional gun-related incidents were investigated in late July near where Katie Brown and Carnell Sledge were murdered, just below the Lorain Avenue Bridge in Fairview Park. One of those incidents included a robbery in which a woman was robbed at gunpoint.
The murders remain unsolved and the Metroparks and other law enforcement agencies continue to ask the public for tips. Police also have made no arrests in the robbery.
Metroparks spokeswoman Jacqueline Gerling said the park system has numerous partnerships with police departments and with the county still available to help them if park police need it.
“We’ve maintained a partnership with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department for several years, which has included support at Edgewater during Edgewater LIVE and on holidays,” Gerling said in an email. “Over the summer, the [the sheriff’s office] also assisted with high visibility saturation patrols in the Rocky River Reservation.”
She added that the sheriff’s department has jurisdiction countywide and “we will continue to utilize all partnerships and resources at our disposal.”
She did not answer specific questions about Metroparks' police staffing levels at the reservations or Edgewater.
But she said that in 2019 the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department is budgeted for 84 full-time positions, a 13% increase over the 66 positions budgeted in 2012.
Gerling said no additional gun-related incidents have been reported in the Rocky River Reservation since July..