Jasper Police: The reason we park in the no parking zone

(From the Jasper Police Department)

There have been a few complaints made about our officers parking in the “no parking” zones on Mercer St. during school hours. We’re going to take the time and explain why we do this.

•Safety.... 1st and foremost. We are there to ensure the safety of children and their parents, etc, who are walking and driving in the school zone. When have you seen officers working the school zones lke we have the last two school years?

•We are there for visibility and to check speed of vehicles driving east/west on Mercer. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options of places to sit and check speed, driver’s actions, and be clearly visible.

•This also gives us a chance to talk with the kids. You’d be surprised how many kids come up to us and say hello, give fist bumps with blowups and high fives.

We apologize for offending those who are offended by us parking in the no parking zones along Mercer. We have contacted MODOT about getting the signs changed to “police parking only”. We don’t do this because we think we are above the law, we clearly aren’t nor do we think we are.....we do it for the reasons above and because there just isn’t any better options at this point to get done what we’re there to do.

We encourage anyone with a complaint or ideas for us to do our jobs better, contact the Chief at 417-483-6261, or come by and talk to an officer or if you see one of us around town, stop and talk to us. If you don’t like talking on the phone or in person, you are welcome to text the above number or email the chief at chief@jaspermo.org.

Thank you,
Jasper PD