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How to Enforce Social Distancing in Public Spaces

How to Enforce Social Distancing in Public Spaces

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Enforcing social distancing has become a fierce challenge for cities of all sizes and cultures.  Most people who are being defiant are well behaved citizens, under normal circumstances.

Most park officials and enforcement officers do not want to be tasked with the unpleasant duty of removing citizens from public places, especially if it involves legal enforcement. 

The solution is deterrence. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a deterrent is “serving to discourage, prevent or inhibit”

But how does one deter the community from enjoying a park they have come to love and enjoy?  A park your department has worked so hard to create for the public to enjoy. There is a tool that can help with this distasteful responsibility.

Traditional surveillance systems do not have the immediate presence needed in these unique times.  The best tool must have a presence that distracts the groups from their activity and redirects their thoughts to do what they know is responsible. Public Nuisance Cameras that are used for deterring vandalism and graffiti are designed to modify behavior. Their feature of deterrence is the main value. 

It is the deterrence that is needed to enforce social distancing.

Park Vandalism Hurts

Park Vandalism Hurts

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Park Vandalism Hurts

Did you know one of the first parks built on public lands for public use was between 61 and 55 BCE? The Porticus Pompeiana, one of Ancient Rome’s first public parks was created with pools, fountains and plants of all kinds and was intended to be a space for people to walk, relax and enjoy leisure activities.  Today our public parks are created with the same mindset and to help bring communities and families together. Unfortunately, parks have become the victims of nuisance crimes such as: illegal dumping, theft, and especially vandalism.

Vandalism in the parks can take on many forms such as graffiti and the destruction of public property.  The least costly wreckage is the destruction of signs, but some more costly targets are streetlights, pavilions and public bathrooms, which can be very costly to repair.  Unfortunately, parks are a public attraction for vandalism.

Park Vandals are at times younger people who are bored and looking for mischief.  However, when vandalism occurs in parks, it is highly related to gangs within the community who are responsible for this crime. Gangs use graffiti to tag “their property” and to make rival gangs and the community aware of their “ownership”.  Park Officials who spend many hours in the planning and care for their parks need to take back the parks, because if the destruction either in the form of graffiti or vandalism remains long, it empowers the gangs to further violence.  The community, the intended recipients of the park, then becomes fearful to even walk close to the park.    

What does it mean to take back the park? To take back the park means to show the gangs that the park is not theirs, it is owned by the community.   

How to Prevent Park Vandalism:

Keeping Parks Safe from Vandalism

Keeping Parks Safe from Vandalism

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Childhood obesity is an issue many parents are currently facing in the United States. The answers many parents are considering include a multitude of after-school programs geared toward helping children stay fit and active. Sports, such as baseball or soccer, often take place in local community parks and/or recreation centers. Because the park hosts many different exercise programs, a vandalized park can easily leave children, as well as parents, with the feeling that their environment is unsafe.

Instances of graffiti vandalism at a community park can often incite further gang-related crime, and more recurrences of graffiti, if not quickly abated. The appearance of this type of negative, criminal element can easily scare a child and parent alike, naturally leaving parents with the notion that the park environment is unsafe for their child’s activity to take place.

The unsafe environment that a vandalized park alludes to leaves children with the inability to enjoy their recreation or activity of choice, causing a void that physical activity would normally displace. This type of inactivity only furthers the problem of childhood obesity and can easily lead to depression or other psychological malaise after a child’s beloved neighborhood park has been closed due to vandalism. Many parents are also circumspect about having their children play in the unsafe environment of a recently vandalized park.

Because safe parks are an integral component to helping curb childhood obesity, it is important to do our best to manage a means of prevention, keeping our parks free from things like graffiti and vandalism; allowing children to dutifully engage in safe and active recreation.  The National Recreation and Park Association, (NRPA) lists out guidelines on evaluating the park’s safety and the implementation of factors to create a safe park.  Some crucial conditions were, good maintenance, good lighting, enforced rules, and surveillance. 

What is your Parks Department doing to keep your park safe from Vandalism?

Prevent Vandalism in Park Bathrooms

Prevent Vandalism in Park Bathrooms

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Restrooms are frequently vandalized in parks, because restrooms are usually private and there exists little chance of a restroom vandal being caught in the act of committing the crime. Acts of vandalism most often occur in situations where there is less civilian oversight, and thus, less of a likelihood of being caught.

After a park’s public restroom is vandalized, the sight of such a circumstance can have a negative psychological effect on people using the facility. Emotions triggered can often include feeling unsafe and dirty.  The facility is now labeled in the mind as unsanitary, neglected and unkept.

Instances of graffiti, one of the most common forms of vandalism, often experiences further recurrences if not quickly and thoroughly abated.  The cost of repairs due to vandalized restrooms can exceed tens of thousands of dollars and cause closures of the facility, often resulting in frustrated patrons who visit the park. The cost of repairs due to a vandalized park restroom causes budget cuts elsewhere, and leaves very little, if any, funding for regular, routine park maintenance.

If a public park restroom falls victim to an act of vandalism, repairs and a lack of routine maintenance and cleaning can leave the restroom facility in a state of neglect. This type of negligence can result in a restroom facility becoming extremely unsanitary and can often harbor diseases such as hepatitis A, as well as various viruses including shigellosis and streptococcus. Illnesses from viruses, like shigellosis and hepatitis A, are very severe and are common in unclean public restrooms.

With public park restroom vandalism being such a widespread occurrence, a means for preventing instances of vandalism are paramount in avoiding the costs associated with the crime.  Vandalism Cameras strategically placed deter negative behavior and prevent the costs incurred which include equipment repair, park closure, and the health of those people who enjoy the park.