Posts

TikTok trend

Park Bathroom Vandalism

/in /by

Did you know there is a TikTok trend that is encouraging the youth to vandalize park bathrooms?  The perpetrators smash toilet seats, tanks, and sinks.   The cost to repair can be astronomical, especially if these incidents happen multiple times.  The youth also target the pipes, causing an endless flow of water flooding the bathrooms, which damages the tile and subflooring. If the damage is extensive, it is considered a felony.

Park officials have resorted to restricting the bathroom use or worse closing them completely.  A closed bathroom is not inviting to the public.  When there is less traffic, the park invites other crimes such as gang violence and drug use.

One Park Director suggested community service for the youth that are committing these crimes.  This is a great idea, but to make a certain youth do community service, identification is required.  Due to many reasons, it is difficult to get prosecutable images with traditional surveillance. Unfortunately, traditional surveillance is not stopping these types of wanton acts of bathroom vandalism.

So, what can be done?

In order to combat park bathroom vandalism, Park Officials need to implement a Park Vandalism Deterrent Program.

A successful Park Vandalism Deterrent Program must have:

  • Education and Awareness Campaigns. Involve the community.
  • Community Activities. Keep the Park Active and Alive.
  • Vandalism Clean Up Committees. Repair any vandalism or graffiti immediately!
  • Park Vandalism Cameras, specifically designed to stop vandalism before it happens. These are not traditional surveillance cameras.
  • Install Lights. As much light as possible.

Parks are an essential asset to any community, and they must be protected from vandalism of any kind.

Protect your park bathrooms from vandalism

Tools Needed to Stop Vandalism

Tools Needed to Stop Vandalism

/in /by

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

Parks Should be Protected From Vandalism

Parks Should be Protected From Vandalism

/in /by

Public parks are a major asset to the health and prosperity of a community. Parks provide free modes of exercise to residents. Parks attract home buyers, both young families searching for a new home and older couples who are looking to retire. Communities which possess parks tend to be more tightly knit residents than those which do not have parks. Residents may even go so far as to support and protect one another as a result of the relationships they form around their parks. And when residents have strong bonds with each other, crime decreases drastically. All of these benefits brought by parks help to make communities ideal for living a full life. Nevertheless, parks are not impervious to crime, especially vandalism.

Vandalism is the kryptonite of park prosperity due to the multi-faceted destruction it wreaks upon its targets. Vandalism is the unlawful destruction of property. When park property is destroyed, people are not only deprived of physical benefits like exercise space, but mental, relational, and financial benefits as well. Stress and fear begin to plague residents when they see vandalism in their parks. The fear and loss of recreational equipment discourages social bonding between residents. And the costs of fixing or replacing the damaged property increases taxes on law-abiding citizens. Vandalism must be stopped at all costs!

Thankfully, there is a sure-fire way of defeating vandalism: Vandalism Cameras. These specially designed Vandalism Cameras are the perfect solution to vandalism in parks because they do not need to eat or sleep like people do. These cameras will constantly guard the safety of parks 24/7 and scare off would-be vandals. Criminals can no longer commit vandalism anonymously. The vandalism cameras will hold criminals accountable for their actions and deter the crime from being committed.

Brief History of Vandalism in Parks

Brief History of Vandalism in Parks

/in /by

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.