A man who spent 40 years working for the Arkansas State Parks, including 28 years as the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent at Bull Shoals State Park, is speaking out about a change in the organization that has led to less law enforcement in the parks, which he says makes them less safe. Tracy King retired from the state parks in August after spending the last eight and a half years of his career as the Region 2 Supervisor for the State Parks where he oversaw operations of 12 state parks in an area from Little Rock northward.
King says his wife’s death, along with the changes in the state parks led him to retire Aug. 1. He says another big factor was when he brought up issues with his superiors, they wrote him up and suspended him without pay for three days. It was the only time in his 40 year career he had been written up.
King says it was bringing up the reduction in the number of law enforcement officers in the state parks that got him suspended.
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King says when he brought the issue up, his bosses told him the change was because they were going in a different direction, but he knew it had not worked in other places.
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King retired just a few days after a couple was murdered at Devils Den State Park in northwest Arkansas. KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News asked him if the lack of law enforcement at the park played a factor in that crime.
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King says it hasn’t been that long ago that the agency was recognized at the national level.
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King says he spent over 30 of his 40 year career training officers, so it’s hard to see it torn down.
He says he has heard from elected officials and commissioners wanting to hear more information and he has done an interview with a Little Rock TV station. King says his main objective is to get the word out to keep the public safe when they visit state parks in Arkansas.
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