Did you know there is a TikTok trend that is encouraging the youth to vandalize park bathrooms? The perpetrators smash toilet seats, tanks, and sinks. The cost to repair can be astronomical, especially if these incidents happen multiple times. The youth also target the pipes, causing an endless flow of water flooding the bathrooms, which damages the tile and subflooring. If the damage is extensive, it is considered a felony.
Park officials have resorted to restricting the bathroom use or worse closing them completely. A closed bathroom is not inviting to the public. When there is less traffic, the park invites other crimes such as gang violence and drug use.
One Park Director suggested community service for the youth that are committing these crimes. This is a great idea, but to make a certain youth do community service, identification is required. Due to many reasons, it is difficult to get prosecutable images with traditional surveillance. Unfortunately, traditional surveillance is not stopping these types of wanton acts of bathroom vandalism.
So, what can be done?
In order to combat park bathroom vandalism, Park Officials need to implement a Park Vandalism Deterrent Program.
A successful Park Vandalism Deterrent Program must have:
- Education and Awareness Campaigns. Involve the community.
- Community Activities. Keep the Park Active and Alive.
- Vandalism Clean Up Committees. Repair any vandalism or graffiti immediately!
- Park Vandalism Cameras, specifically designed to stop vandalism before it happens. These are not traditional surveillance cameras.
- Install Lights. As much light as possible.
Parks are an essential asset to any community, and they must be protected from vandalism of any kind.
Protect your park bathrooms from vandalism
How to Prevent Illegal Dumping
/in Blog /by AdminMunicipalities are looking for ways to prevent illegal dumping in their community. Illegal dumping occurs in alleyways, clearings in remote areas, and generally anywhere the perpetrators believe they will not be caught.
Regrettably, illegal dumping causes great harm to the environment, which in turn causes humans to face disease and toxic water pollution. Most citizens value their community; however, it only takes a few bad apples to cause problems for the rest of the population.
To prevent the spread of disease and water pollution, every municipality must create an Illegal Dumping Prevention Program.
Here are some important topics to discuss that should be included in the Illegal Dumping Prevention Program.
Illegal Dumping Prevention Program.
A Successful Illegal Dumping Prevention Program involves many departments within the city.
Eliminate the blight and disease illegal dumping brings to the community. Create an Illegal Dumping Prevention Program!
#noillegaldumping #stopillegaldumping #publicworks
Park Bathroom Vandalism
/in Blog /by AdminDid you know there is a TikTok trend that is encouraging the youth to vandalize park bathrooms? The perpetrators smash toilet seats, tanks, and sinks. The cost to repair can be astronomical, especially if these incidents happen multiple times. The youth also target the pipes, causing an endless flow of water flooding the bathrooms, which damages the tile and subflooring. If the damage is extensive, it is considered a felony.
Park officials have resorted to restricting the bathroom use or worse closing them completely. A closed bathroom is not inviting to the public. When there is less traffic, the park invites other crimes such as gang violence and drug use.
One Park Director suggested community service for the youth that are committing these crimes. This is a great idea, but to make a certain youth do community service, identification is required. Due to many reasons, it is difficult to get prosecutable images with traditional surveillance. Unfortunately, traditional surveillance is not stopping these types of wanton acts of bathroom vandalism.
So, what can be done?
In order to combat park bathroom vandalism, Park Officials need to implement a Park Vandalism Deterrent Program.
A successful Park Vandalism Deterrent Program must have:
Parks are an essential asset to any community, and they must be protected from vandalism of any kind.
Protect your park bathrooms from vandalism
PFAs in Illegal Dumping Sites
/in Blog /by AdminPer-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAs) are toxic chemicals that are showing up in illegal dump sites.
This is what the EPA says about PFAs:
Illegal dump sites are usually remote areas that are still convenient enough for people to illegally discard their bulky items, tires, and construct debris. Unlawfully deposed unwanted items contaminate the area in so many ways. One of the most concerning threats is toxic waste entering the drinking water. A big culprit for this type of pollution is tires.
The increasing alarm is the breakdown of tires which contain PFAs. These PFAs enter the soil, ground water, and the air, especially if they burn. Tires left in an unsafe procedure can easily ignite causing a fire that can spread at a rapid pace causing immense damage.
In 2016, high levels of PFAs were detected in the soil, air, and drinking water. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Agency detected PFAs in private wells and the surrounding area and was able to identify the source from the massive tire fire from 1986 and the firefighting foam used to fight the fire.
Although the Pennsylvania fire was not an illegal dumping site, anyone can see multiple tires in an illegal dump site. This is why it is so important to stop the practice of unlawful dumping. Illegal dumping is harming the safety of our very lives. In order to stop illegal dumping an Illegal Dumping Enforcement Program must be implemented.
Proactive Against Illegal Dumping
/in Blog /by AdminIllegal Dumping is a community curse that requires proactive measures that stop illegal dumping before it happens.
Illegal Dumping is not just trash that is thrown from a car. Illegal dumping usually involves big items like refrigerators, tires, couches, and construction debris left in remote areas. An out of the way, remote area can be an off road clearing in the forest, a vacant lot, a hidden alleyway, or a road behind a store front. All these areas get hit by offenders leaving their unwanted items for the rest of the community to take care of.
Cities are tasked with the burden to create legislation that will offset the expense illegal dumping causes, which can be very expensive especially if the clean up involves environmental water pollution. A lot of citizens don’t want punishment even for offenders, but the alternative is pollution and disease.
Therefore, legislators need to purchase tools that are specifically designed to be proactive in stopping illegal dumping. The city of Seattle cleans up 2 million tons of trash a year and it costs 1.7 million dollars and they are ready to be proactive in stopping the problem.
Being proactive against illegal dumping means doing something different and using tools that are effective in areas traditional surveillance is not.
Here are the questions to ask when being proactive:
Be proactive, stop illegal dumping in your community!