Junior Pinksen, Deer Lake recreation director, said he received a call that a water valve on the field was running, a port-a-potty was tipped over and a soccer net had been cut apart.
“We come through every morning and do a routine check of the playgrounds, of all the recreation facilities so this was seen in the morning,” he said.
The continuous acts of vandalism don’t stop at the soccer field, according to Pinksen. Recreation workers removed material from a dugout on the softball field this summer due to it being destroyed by vandals and became a hazard to users of the area.
“In the playgrounds, we’ve had a number of spring toys that have been broken and we know that it’s not the kids. It’s always done late at night and we just don’t know where it’s going to stop,” he said.
Pinksen said the recreation field wasn’t the only target Wednesday night. He said vandals pulled out posts attached to a chain link fence at the Deer Lake day park and removed a bench from the area as well.
“We keep upgrading, but we just don’t know where it’s going to stop or what to do. It seems like it’s probably the same group of kids but trying to harness them, I don’t know,” said Pinksen.
Pinksen said it’s up to the RCMP, the town and even the general public to work together and put a stop to people ruining the recreation areas in the community.
“It’s got to be more involvement from the community, to take ownership of our property. People don’t have to deal with them. Don’t even confront them. But if we don’t know who they are, we can’t deal with them,” he said.
“If you know who they are, step up to the plate and tell us who they are. You don’t have to be identified, just say who they are,” said Pinksen,
Pinksen said he has an issue with the justice system in general whereby he says youth get a “slap on the wrist” for disrespecting community property. He said there was a past issue at the Hodder Memorial Recreation Complex where several youth were constantly loitering around and disrespecting the facility and were suspended for a year.
“The problem went away, and we have to do the same thing again. It’s a small percentage, it’s less than one or two per cent, but then they’re making it bad for the other 98 which is unfortunate,” he said.
Pinksen said the constant vandalism to recreation areas makes him uneasy when planning upgrades.
“We want to upgrade this facility. We want to look at putting things in … we’re looking at maybe a skateboard park, but from a town’s perspective we’ve this group of kids going out and doing this over and over again,” he said.
He said the three portable outdoor security cameras will be used for surveillance in problem areas such as the fields.
“Obviously these are key areas and when we do catch them, we will charge them.
But we also need help from the general public in this area as well. We’ve just got to be more vigilant and try to identify who these people are as individuals and put a stop to it … We’re not the only community. This happens everywhere… but we need to take ownership of our community,” said Pinksen.
