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Residents urge changes after solicitation encounters and a large animal-control citation
Summary
Two Bedford residents used public comment to press the council on neighborhood safety and animal-control enforcement: one cited repeated doorstep solicitation and poor police follow-up; another said he faces a $2,081 citation for an off-leash dog and called the fine excessive.
Two Bedford residents used the council's public-comment period on March 10 to raise concerns about public-safety responses and animal-control enforcement.
Randy Childers, who identified himself as a 25-year Bedford resident with law-enforcement experience, described repeated doorstep solicitation at his home and said his attempts to get help from the Bedford Police Department produced an unsatisfactory nonemergency response and no call back from the police chief. "I called the Bedford Police Department... I left a message for the police chief, who I was, why I was calling, and he didn't wanna call me back," Childers said, asking the council to direct the police chief to enforce the city's solicitation ordinance.
Kenneth Boyd, a Bedford resident for 42 years, said he received a first-offense citation for 'animal at large' at Brook Hollow Park and faces a $2,081 fine. Boyd asked the council why the city issued an amount he described as "egregious" for a noncriminal, first offense and said the animal-control officer prioritized issuing citations over helping another resident trying to find two escaped dogs. Boyd said a court date is scheduled for April 8 and urged the council to examine the enforcement approach.
Council members and staff did not take action during public comment but the mayor invited both residents to follow up by email and noted staff's availability to meet. The comments underscore two issues — police response to solicitation complaints and the city's animal-control citation practices — that council members or staff could address in future meetings or via follow-up with the police and animal-control departments.
