Mess with the parks, and Baltimore County will mess with you.
That was the message Tuesday as Baltimore County park and police officials launched a campaign to crack down on vandalism at recreational facilities ? where recent incidents have included melted sliding boards, stolen golf carts and a destroyed grill ? including constant video surveillance at five major parks.
The county has posted “Park Pride” signs in facilities advertising a new dedicated tip line specifically for park vandalism and will install 24-7 video surveillance cameras at the five regional parks ? Honeygo, Reisterstown, Northwest, Eastern and Meadowood ? county spokeswoman Angela Heffner said.
“The county will be able to not only capture and identify those who do the vandalism, but the signs will deter and, hopefully, make them think twice before they do anything to our parks,” Heffner said.
The county spent more than $250,000 to restore damage from 160 incidents of vandalism in parks last year, said Robert Barrett, director of Recreation and Parks. Typical costs typically average less than $100,000 per year, Barrett said, but have escalated as the cost of equipment increases.
With $250 million in the pipeline for park improvements and land acquisition, Barrett said the county wants to protect its investment. Money spent on repairing vandalism ? most frequently graffiti ? could have been spent on improvements, he said.
“Baltimore County parks are clean green and safe,” Barrett said. “But we?re not taking any chances.”
The county spent about $2,700 to install cameras in strategic parts of the regional park in Reisterstown and will install others in the remaining four parks over the next nine months.
Anonymous tips about vandalism can be reported to the “Park Pride” tip line at 410-887-3808. Reports also can be submitted on the county?s Web site.
