City of Forest officials and the Forest Police Department are searching for the vandals who destroyed and vandalized property at two locations this past weekend. On Monday morning city officials were notified of two separate instances of vandalism at the playground in Gaddis Park and at the Forest Animal Control kennels located on Bishop Lane. The city is now in the process of installing surveillance cameras at numerous locations in order to identify any future vandalism or property destruction.
The city recently upgraded the playground at Gaddis Park to be all inclusive for children with disabilities and handicaps. The upgrades and new equipment came with a price tag of approximately $25,000, and not even one month after opening vandals took aim at attempting to destroy the new handicap accessible playground equipment and playground signage.
The perpetrators ripped two new handicap accessible signs off the metal poles on which they were attached, and removed the bolts out of the new handicap accessible swings. The vandals also pulled up numerous new rose bushes and stole hanging ferns that had been placed at the playground.
“It appears that the individual, or individuals, that destroyed property at the Gaddis Park playground intentionally targeted the new handicap swings and signage installed by the city,” Mayor Nancy Chambers said. “They literally ripped the new handicap accessible signs off the metal post and attempted to destroy them, and then they removed all the bolts from the new swings we just recently installed for children with disabilities. I cannot understand what type of person would do this, but we are working hard identify those responsible.”
In a separate incident over the weekend, vandals broke into the Animal Control Kennels and destroyed property. A sign at the entrance of the kennels was destroyed and the perpetrators gained access to the city property by forcibly breaking through the gate. The kennels set approximately 300 yards off of Bishop Lane, but once they broke through the main gate, they had full access to the kennel facilities and the animals currently being housed at the kennels. Once inside they appear to have attached a chain to an inside gate and used a vehicle to pull the gate down. Neither the animals nor the kennels were disturbed which really made these acts of destruction perplexing to city officials.
“None of the animals in the kennels were disturbed, and it appears that none of the kennels were bothered. If the kennels would have broken into or the animals taken I could have at least understood the motive behind these senseless acts, but that was not the case so it appears destruction of city property and vandalism was the only motivation for this crime,” Chambers said.
In order to deter future events of destruction or vandalism similar to last weekend’s acts the city is working this week to install new surveillance cameras at numerous locations throughout Forest. “Surveillance cameras are being installed as we speak,” Mayor Chambers said. “We are currently installing cameras at the Gaddis Park Playground, the city kennel and at the James “Bo” Clark Recreation Complex along with some additional locations that I will not reveal. If anyone is caught on these cameras destroying property, committing criminal mischief or vandalism they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We take great pride in the City of Forest and we are going to be diligent in protecting our properties against senseless acts such as these in the future.”
The mayor said that the cost of repairs at the kennels and at the playground takes away from the animal control budget as well as the parks and recreation budget that could have been used in far better ways. “All these acts of vandalism accomplish is to increase the cost of what we build and do for our citizens. When you tear up city property you are denying the citizens of Forest access to those properties and requiring repair work that takes money away from other projects” Chambers said. “When we do identify the vandals, they will be prosecuted and if they happen to be juveniles their parents will be held accountable.”
Police Chief Will Jones said that this is an ongoing investigation and that anyone with information about the vandalism that occurred at either Gaddis Park or the city kennels can contact the Forest Police Department.
