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Maintain Your Parks-Stop Vandalism

Maintain Your Parks-Stop Vandalism

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Vandalism is one for the most common and challenging problems for parks throughout the United States.  Maintaining a park includes unpredictable vandalism occurrences and the costs these criminal acts incur.  It is no easy task.

Unfortunately installing traditional cameras and surveillance systems do not stop the problem.  Vandalism usually occurs in dark areas where adequate lighting is not provided. In addition, it occurs in remote areas where electricity and internet connection are not available or costly to install.

There is a big difference between surveillance and deterrence.  Surveillance is needed for live action video where a police officer or security guard can be immediately deployed. But surveillance video does not stop a crime from occurring, and it is hard to get prosecutable images, especially in the dark.  And then the park is left with the task and cost of repairing park equipment or worse closing the park.

Whereas deterrence does just that.  It deters the incident of vandalism or graffiti before it happens.  Therefore, no costs are incurred to repair equipment because it was saved from the criminal intent. Park Vandalism Cameras are especially designed to stop vandals before they strike, and they capture high resolution images that can be used to identify suspects even in complete darkness in remote areas where there is no electricity or lights.

When your park is closed, you should know your park equipment is safe from the hands of vandals. Your job of maintaining a park should not be made more difficult.

Get the tools you need to stop vandalism.

#StopVandalism #StopGraffiti #PublicWorks #Deterrence

Tools Needed to Stop Vandalism

Tools Needed to Stop Vandalism

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Unfortunately, disadvantaged neighborhoods suffer from the highest crime rates. Once certain kinds of crime infect a neighborhood, it becomes trapped in a vicious, downward spiral of depravity. One of the crimes which contributes to this downward spiral most is vandalism. Vandalism is an incredibly visible crime that communicates weak surveillance and law enforcement to the community, law-keepers and criminals alike. Thus, vandalism indirectly causes more crime in its setting. Furthermore, the damages caused by vandalism increases tax rates and insurance rates in communities, further debilitating the local economy. The resulting environment is a depressing and threatening one.

The negative effects of vandalism especially harms youths as they are heavily influenced by their environment. The costs of vandalism siphon money away from school funding and other beneficial city functions.  Vandalism robs children of the safety of knowing there is an authority that cares enough to prevent others from destroying property.  More than half the vandalism crimes are associated with 13-14 year old youths who may be seeking attention, acceptance, or venting their angst in a destructive manner. The criminal activity of the youths will only doom their fate to remain bleak and dismal, but they are most likely not aware of this.

The best option to rescue these neighborhoods is through forming strong communal bonds and actively preventing crimes like vandalism. The presence of strong bonds between neighbors is shown to reduce crime rates and improve the lives of adolescents. However, communities need the right tools to combat the war against vandalism. A robust crime deterrent system has been created that is especially designed to stop nuisance crimes like vandalism. These vandalism cameras go beyond identifying anyone who trespasses on property.  They are a tool a community needs to change the behavior of the vandals and effectively prevent vandalism from taking place.

#novandalism #stopvandals #parksandrecreation #weareparksandrec #publicworks #security

Brief History of Vandalism in Parks

Brief History of Vandalism in Parks

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The history of vandalism is a long and tragic one. The term “vandalism” was first coined by the Abbe Henri Gregoire, the Bishop of Blois in 1794. The Bishop coined the term for the purpose of denouncing and quenching the widespread riots which had enveloped all of France in the early months of the French Revolution. The Bishop was inspired to use the term “vandalism” as he remembered the violent reputation of the Vandals. The Vandals were a Germanic tribe who played a huge role in the fall of the Roman Empire. The people had become so out of control that they were beginning to act like the Vandals, destroying the very country they were trying to liberate from an oppressive French monarchy. The Bishop wanted to re-establish the pure and good principles of the revolution that had been lost in the hateful confusion of the rioting. So, the Bishop labeled the destructive behavior of the rioters as “vandalism.” The effort to paint the rioters’ behavior in a negative light succeeded. The term “vandalism” caught like wildfire and spread across Europe within weeks. The term originally referred to systematic revolutionary violence, but soon began to predominantly refer to the general desecration of art and architecture. All this to say, vandalism is no peripheral matter, regardless of where it takes place.

Unfortunately, the old practice of vandalism is still alive and well in our communities, especially public parks. The irresponsible and vengeful vandalism of public parks inflicts crippling blows to nearby residents. The presence of vandalism mars a community’s image and decreases real estate values. Many parks and recreation departments need to spend 30% of their maintenance budget to repair damages caused by vandalism, leaving no room for improving facilities. Communities need to put an end to vandalism.

The best way to stop vandalism from continuing to destroy communities is by installing state-of-the-art Vandalism Deterrent Cameras, which are specially designed to stop vandalism in parks, providing communities security in knowing their parks are protected and warding off vandals.

Vandalism Hurts Communities

Vandalism Hurts Communities

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A study has been done which demonstrates that where crime rates go up, property prices go down. When property prices go down, the economic livelihood of a community suffers. All kinds of crime contribute to this housing value avalanche, even crimes which at first glance may seem harmless, such as vandalism.

However, vandalism is actually the crime which most negatively affects the economic values of homes in an area. The reason behind this reality is that crimes do not occur in a vacuum, isolated from each other. The repeated occurrences of crime in one area foster an atmosphere of lawlessness which emboldens would-be criminals to actualize their illegal intentions. After a certain number of crimes occur in a single area, the atmosphere gives birth to a crime hot spot.

Unfortunately, crime hot spots cause a significant decrease in housing prices in the immediate area, even more so than the average crime rate of the whole town. And the worst kind of hot spot is a vandalism hot spot. The logic is such: vandalism affects the appearance of an area long term, allowing everyone to witness the continual aftermath of a crime.

House buyers read the anarchy and vulgarities of vandalism as a sign that no authority is in control of the area, that the neighborhood is in decline, and so they avoid these areas if they can.

Research suggests that physically observable crimes more effectively induce fear in the community than non-observable crimes. Thus, the strongest correlation between levels of different kinds of crime that can be found is between presence of vandalism hot spots in a community and violence, car theft, and house burglary.

The best way to combat vandalism and defend the economic livelihood of a community is to utilize crime deterrent cameras. Most vandalism is extremely expensive to erase and repair and occurs at times when there is little chance of the perps being caught in the act. Therefore, by strategically placing crime deterrent cameras, would-be vandals will be halted before they have a chance to commit the rapid, yet costly crime.

Preventing vandalism will benefit communities immensely!

#FightVandalism #ProtectOurCities #NoGraffiti