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Keeping Crime Out of the Parks

Keeping Crime Out of the Parks

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Keeping crime out of the parks has been a struggle for many communities.  Crimes in the parks consists of graffiti, vandalism, drugs, illegal dumping, and gang violence.  When crime in the park occurs, the attendees begin to draw away feeling the park is no longer safe.  When violence and unruliness take over, the crime spreads to the neighborhood and continues to grow.

An unsafe park creates an unsafe community for families and businesses.  Unfortunately, unsafe neighborhoods statistically cause lower property values, which causes even more harm to the community.  Everybody knows how beneficial a safe park, easy to access and enjoy, is to the community.

In order to keep crime out of the park, the community must come together and fight off the crime that plagues the park.  Back in the 80’s, “Take Back the Park” began.  A solution to take back the control of the recreational space by providing youth leadership and activities that include crime prevention training.  The impact of the program was encouraging.  15 parks participated where summer programs bloomed.

This is still important today.  Tragically,  Clairemont Community experienced a park shooting around noon while kids were playing.  The community then hosted a Take Back the Park Event to bring change to the neighborhood.   It needs to be noted that taking back a park is not easy and does not happen overnight. To see a change the program must continue, and the community must be involved.

Perpetrators visually need to see the community cares for the park.  Here is a checklist at a minimum that must be implemented to change the atmosphere of the park from neglected to loved.

  • Remove Graffiti
  • Repair Vandalized Equipment and Structures
  • Install Park Crime Deterrent Systems
  • Increase the Lighting
  • Provide Activities for the Whole Community
  • Increase the Presence of Site Managers and Police

Remove all signs of neglect like graffiti and vandalism immediately, as this attracts more serious crimes. Make sure the activities are enticing to the whole community, because the presence of people discourages most possible crimes. Make sure your parks department is equipped with the right tools to fight park crime.  Traditional cameras do not deter crime; therefore, Park Crime Deterrent Systems are needed.

Take back your park and keep the crime out!

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.

 

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

Protecting Park Assets

Protecting Park Assets

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During the park closures back in 2020, we all learned that parks are essential to the health and wellbeing of the community, and the assets of a park provided need to be protected.

Unfortunately, there have been many incidents of vandalism, metal theft, and graffiti at are beloved parks.  To our greatest surprise are the occurrences within our historic parks and natural beauties.  It is hard to understand the person who would commit such a hideous crime.  Whether it’s youthful ignorance or anger directed at society, it is a very sad crime that affects our entire nation.

The vandalism that occurs at the local park is also sad.  Children come to play on the swing set or the slide, only to find it is not available due to vandalism.  Youth feel depression and unsafe when they discover their skate park has been defaced with graffiti.  And the football game will not happen because some culprit stole the wiring out of the lights.

All these tragic events occur very often.

Protecting Park property is more than surveillance.  Surveillance has its benefits, but it does not deter. Therefore, the park equipment such as field lights, bathrooms, playground equipment, and pavilions are destroyed and must be repaired or replaced.

This is very heartbreaking to the park visitors but also to the park rangers and recreation supervisors.  Because the park is created by their hard work and dedication, the destruction of the park is a blow to their heart.

Protecting Park resources are easier than you may believe.  There is a Park Vandalism Camera, specifically designed to stop vandals and other nuisance crime perpetrators before they strike.

What is your community doing to stop park vandalism and protect your park?