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Tools to Protect Parks

Tools to Protect Parks

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Do you have the tools to protect your park?

Parks face daunting threats of vandalism, graffiti, and theft.  Most parks have security in place but is it enough and is the security chosen protecting your park?  Everybody likes a nice shiny new tool with the bells and whistles, but not all tools can be used for all jobs.  Tools are made specifically for a certain job. Security at your park should be the same.

Everyone knows a community needs a safe accessible park for the well-being of the children and adults alike.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of obstacles to keep the parks safe.  The National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA, does a great job in researching the planning of safe parks and supplies great tools for Park Administrators.  But safe parks don’t come easily. The safety of the park is the responsibility of the park administrators, the law enforcement, and citizens themselves.  It takes all involved to create a healthy community.

Besides, adequate lighting, activities that involve the community, and site managers to oversee, every park should have surveillance in place.  Traditional surveillance has it value and is needed but it is not designed to stop vandalism and graffiti.  Park Vandalism Cameras, specifically designed to stop quality of life crimes in parks is needed.

As you plan your park and get ready for the opening season, make sure you have the right tools to protect the park you pour your sweat and life into.

Winter Park Vandalism

Winter Park Vandalism

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Winter is no time to slack on protecting the park from vandalism.  Other measures are taking place to protect the park during the winter, such as draining pools and winterizing the playground equipment.  But how tragic it would be to have to deal with playground or pavilion vandalism damage.

Even though parks may close or be restricted for the winter season, vandalism still occurs, and the destructive behavior does not stop. With less park attendees, vandals see this as an opportunity to trespass without being seen.  Therefore, continuing their destructive acts of vandalism and graffiti.

This subjects your facilities, which are vulnerable to thousands of dollars in vandalism or graffiti damages. As part of your park asset management and vandalism prevention program, ensure your park is protected all year round. Take proactive measures, incorporating Park Vandalism Cameras, specifically designed to stop vandalism and graffiti within parks, especially remote areas where park pavilions and playgrounds are installed.

Being proactive instead of reactive to a crime saves the park department money and preserves the safety of the overall well being of the community.

Every community deserves safe, clean parks for recreation and enjoyment.

What is your park’s department doing to protect your park during the winter?

To ensure your park’s department is ready for the spring season, a Vandalism Protect Program must be implemented.

 

Park Vandalism Deterrent Program

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In order for communities to remain safe, the members of the community need to partner with the police force of their respective municipality. Neither police, nor community residents can successfully fend off crime on their own. The police have the muscle and equipment necessary to confront criminals head-on and apprehend them. However, community residents possess a more intimate knowledge of the specific problems which are plaguing their neighborhoods. Only by means of a partnership will criminals be effectively thwarted from carrying out their nefarious intentions in communities.

Unfortunately, police officers have come under immense suspicion in recent years. If there is to be any alliance formed between police and the communities they serve, trust must be re-established. A key component to forming trust is adopting a policy of transparency. Police need to keep their communities up to date on all relevant information regarding criminal activity and the police’s investigative and preventative response to said criminal activity. Once law enforcement agencies display their good will with a policy of transparency, citizens will be more likely to open up and share.

Citizens will be able to aid police in their law enforcement efforts if they are given the opportunity to and feel comfortable with sharing pertinent information regarding the workings of their neighborhoods. Police need to know where crimes are taking place and what kind of crimes they are. Nuisance crimes that affect quality of life, are often manifested in vandalism and graffiti, especially in parks.  These types of park crimes invite more hideous and violent crimes into the neighborhood.  If citizens are willing to work with the police to remove these types of crimes the overall crime will decrease.  To make the neighborhood safe, communities need implement a Park Vandalism Deterrent Program, which includes cameras designed specifically to stop vandalism and other nuisance crimes that plague parks.

Social Media-Fight Against Park Vandalism

Social Media-Fight Against Park Vandalism

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In this day and age, where we are more connected than ever through social media, it is a wonder that more people have not utilized social media to fight crime, especially the more elusive ones like vandalism. Vandals love to operate after hours when no one is around so that they can commit their crimes with relative anonymity. This practice makes it incredibly difficult to catch vandals, however they do often leave behind audacious clues which can lead to their arrest. Leaving behind such incriminating clues is all due to the vandals’ egos.

Many criminals, including vandals, foolishly leave hints of their illegal activities on social media. You see, vandalism is often a highly visible crime like graffiti that is committed because vandals want to be recognized for their boldness and ferocity. Nevertheless, vandals still want to remain relatively anonymous so that they can avoid the legal repercussions of their actions. So, vandals will often leave pictures of themselves at the crime scene on their private social media page like Facebook. Vandals think that since their pages are private, that no one who would turn them in can see the incriminating evidence they post. Nevertheless, police have picked up on this trend and used the photos and other posts of vandals on social media to find and arrest them.

If you see any suspicious photos or comments on social media of friends or friends of friends, you can join the fight against vandalism.

Because we cannot always count on vandals to make sloppy mistakes, parks need other sure means of identifying and prosecuting criminals.  Parks suffering from vandalism and graffiti should use Park Vandalism Cameras, which are specially designed to identify a face or other unique feature like a tattoo, even in complete darkness.

#stopvandals #novandalism #playfair #publicworks