Stone Mountain Park denies police cutbacks, land sales

(PRISM DeKalb) -- Stone Mountain Park is increasing funding for police, fire and rescue services, Stone Mountain Memorial Association Chairman Michael Owens said Monday, denying rumors of law-enforcement cutbacks at Georgia's most-visited tourist attraction. "We are increasing investment in the Department of Public Safety. I made that statement last month," Owens told an association meeting attended by dozens of law enforcement officers. Bob Hillis, president of the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police, says officers are being "encouraged" to look for work elsewhere. "The morale of the Park’s public safety staff is abysmal," he says. "While they don’t intend to fully defund or dissolve the agency, they have let officers know they should begin seeking other employment. SMMA believes they can depend on other agencies, including DeKalb County Police and Georgia State Patrol, to provide police services to fill in the gaps when a majority of the police force is gutted," Hillis said in a social-media post. Despite Owens' denial of staff reductions, Stone Mountain Park Police Chief David Hill told the SMMA board that four members of the park's police force have resigned in the past month and eight others have applied for jobs elsewhere.