Milw. Co. Sheriff's Office patrol on lakefront now underway

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It felt a little like summer in Milwaukee on Tuesday, April 30th as many headed to the Lakefront to enjoy the sunshine and temperatures in the 80s. Also on hand were deputies from the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office -- making sure it was all about fun and safety along the lakefront on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office says the hotter it gets in Milwaukee, the more deputies there will be along the Lakefront. As Lakefront crowds continue to grow, law enforcement officials want to make sure everyone has fun and is safe.

"I couldn`t just ignore the beautiful weather. It's almost 80. Thought we`d come here, throw the football and try to enjoy it as much as we can," a Milwaukeean told FOX6 News on Tuesday afternoon.

"We decided to come out today to try t get a tan," another person said.

Sheriff's officials say they expect large crowds along Milwaukee's Lakefront this summer. That's why the Sheriff's Office is launching "Operation Safe Summer."

"Basically we have all these things so we can provide a safe environment for people to enjoy the Lakefront. We have things like the horses and canine unit, motorcycles, bicycles, we obviously have our mobile command post and mobile jail we can use if necessary, the boats and the jet skis -- we can deploy those out if we need to as well ," a Sheriff's official told FOX6 News.

Officials are concerned about disorderly behavior in and out of the water. Part of their effort is to curb disorderly behavior and traffic issues.

"A big part of the problem we deal with is pedestrian traffic interfering with vehicular traffic so we do have a lot of assets down here to help mitigate that," the Sheriff's official said.

As part of this initiative, deputies will be assigned to different zones along the Lakefront, there will be about 25 deputies out patrolling nearby parks as well.