Duluth Police Adding Additional Help at Bentleyville

Duluth Police Department are adding some extra patrols to the Bayfront Park area

DULUTH, Minn.- Monday night we told you about vandalism once again happening at Bentleyville, this time in the form of graffiti. And now, as Duluth Police continue investigating they are adding some extra patrols to the Bayfront Park area.

To make sure the park stays protected, and Bentleyville has a great show this year, more security measures are being added.

“It’s not that this vandalism started extra patrols, the extra patrols have been happening back in October when the stuff started going up”, said Lt. Chad Nagorski, Lieutenant for Duluth Police.

Duluth Police are adding what’s called director patrol to the Bayfront Park area. That means when 9-1-1 squads are not answering 9-1-1 calls, those officers are then directed to certain areas where problems are more common.

“Whenever Bentleyville is around and we know it’s starting out, we always have extra patrols that come down here and actually check it out. It happens with events when Grandma’s Marathon is setting up we do the same thing, its just sometimes it’s being lucky and being there when it happens and sometimes you catch people in the act and sometimes it’s after the fact”, said Nagorski.

Bentleyville’s leader is also still looking for volunteers to work around the clock to keep an eye on the grounds, because Duluth is big enough that police can’t be everywhere at once.

“But you can’t always be every single place and every single corner of a park of that size. Just like the police department can’t be at every single block of a city of our size”, said Nathan Bentley, Executive Director of Bentleyville Tour of Lights.

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer to help Bentleyville, just send an email through bentleyville.org.