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Halloween Decorations

Graffiti, Vandalism and Theft, OH MY!

Are you ready for the increase in nuisance crimes such as graffiti, vandalism and theft during America’s second major holiday? People in America are expected to spend about 8.4 billion dollars this year in 2016 to celebrate this Halloween. This is the highest expected spending in the history of Halloween.

Decorations of spiders, graves and bats are in full swing as the shorter and cooler days approach, but so is the mischief of vandalism, graffiti and theft.  What can you do to protect the valuable assets that your department has worked so hard at attaining?  Whether it is pavilions, park benches or bathrooms, your cities’ assets are at a higher risk during this scary time of Witches, Goblins and Darth Vaders.  How can you protect these valuable assets from nuisance crimes?

While searching the web, one can find many articles on how to protect your house or your car, but what about park equipment and athletic sheds located in the remote dark areas?  Even eggs and toilet paper can be costly to clean up, not to mention the damage caused to the equipment.  In addition, the department needs to be ready for the morning visitors who come to enjoy the facilities you provide.  This can cause a lot of stress.

A 2009 Popular Mechanic’s article, “Halloween Vandalism: How to Prevent it- And How to Clean it UP”, gives some pretty good tips but states keeping your property well-lit is the best preventative, because people do not want others to watch them as they commit their mischief. This can be difficult in a remote area. Also, it is costly to keep the lights on all night where electricity is available.

The FlashCAM systems make their presence known, and they require no hard wiring, making it easy to deploy.  This is a cost effective way to guard your valuable assets from graffiti, vandalism and theft.

Albuquerque, NM: “City Officials Hope Surveillance Cameras Deter Park Crimes”

Published on December 28, 2011 on Albuquerque Journal

Albuquerque’s Santa Fe’s Parks Division is moving forward to install FlashCAMs to protect their trails and parks around the city.  Their parks have been experiencing vandalism, theft, graffiti, drug sales and alcohol consumption. Since their police department cannot monitor these remote places 24 hours a day, Santa Fe Parks Director, Fabian Chavez states “We’re trying to look at a system that will at least enhance our capacity, at a reasonable cost.”

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