Knox County is looking for volunteers to be the eyes and ears of community parks.

In order to improve Knox County’s 40 parks, Park Vol was created as a joint effort between the Knox County Parks and Recreation Department and the Knox County Sheriff’s Department.

“We copied the idea off some other cities,” said Doug Bataille, senior director of Knox County Parks and Recreation. “We want to recruit volunteers from the community, typically people who use the park, and give them training. They’ll be the eyes and ears of the park.”

To be a true presence at the park, Park Vol participants will be given T-shirts and hats to wear while on duty. These participants will scour the park in search of maintenance needs or suspect behavior; they will also help out with local events at their park.

“We (the Parks and Recreation Department) will provide the training about parks,” Bataille said. “The Sheriff’s Department will train them about spotting behavior and not putting themselves in harm’s way.”

Park Vol hopes to have at least 20 people in its first class of recruits.

“This is a great way to help our parks and keep people involved in government, not to mention helping keep costs down while actually improving our parks,” said Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale in a recent press release.

This new program was created to improve parks, not in response to any specific occurrence.

“In any community some parks are better than others,” Bataille said. “When people get involved in parks, they seem to take more interest in it. Park Vol is a way for us to make the system better without extra money at a time when tax dollars are getting tighter.”

In support of this venture, Wal-Mart has already donated $1,000 for the purchase of the T-shirts and hats for volunteers.

Anyone interested in participating in Park Vol should contact Ola Cole at (865) 215-6600.