
By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Since last April, Great Bend citizen Daniel Frost has attended a handful of Great Bend City Council meetings to voice his frustration with noise complaints and unruly residents in the southeast section of town. Frost and two other property owners in this part of town spoke at Monday’s meeting to see if law enforcement could take more action against the claims of loud music, reckless driving and other nuisances.
Jack Love lives on 8th Street and said owners crank the music back up the moment the patrol officer leaves.
"Can't we say that after an officer comes there two times in a night, they can issue citations?" asked Love. "Maybe if they had to reach in their pocket and pay money to aggravate the people, they might quit doing it."
Following Frost’s complaint last April, Great Bend Police Department officers went to the section of town in question, including a detective in an unmarked vehicle. At that time, Police Chief Steve Haulmark said officers did not see any more violations than they would normally anywhere else in town.
"We have regular overtime now just to cover our basic shifts," said Haulmark. "We do have a signup sheet for a two-man car to work saturation patrol on Saturday nights. We're still doing it but we're not able to do it as much as we were. I'd be happy to look into numbers of citations versus warnings given."
After three citizens spoke Monday with concerns about the area, councilmembers asked Haulmark if the city should look into more citations and less warnings for complaints.
"In response to 'the police are never there or never do anything,' I would say without specifics that is just throwing eggs," added Haulmark.