KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The City of Kaukauna is exploring ways to prevent vandalism in its public parks after yet another incident was reported this week.
La Follete Park is one of dozens in the city that people enjoy using during the summer. But recent vandalism and graffiti has put a damper in their ability to do that.
“It’s disheartening knowing that we’re investing in our parks and then to have this vandalism,” said Kaukauna Mayor Tony Penterman.
enterman has worked with the city’s recreation, street and police departments to try to find solutions to the ongoing problem. On Wednesday, they collectively decided to close park bathrooms overnight as a preventative measure.
“Every summer, parks will have their instances of some vandalism,” Kaukauna Police Chief Jamie Graff said. “This year’s been an exception — we’ve seen quite the uptick. Everything from starting small fires to damaging soap dispensers.”
Graff said closing the parks overnight is a good start for the city, but given the number of incidents seen in other communities, it may be time to consider other options.
“How do you curb that? Police can’t be there 24 hours a day,” Graff said. “You can explore the idea of possibly putting cameras into the park, but, obviously, that’s a budgetary issue for communities as well. We’ve talked about that in the city of Kaukauna. I’m not sure where that’s going to go.”
It comes at an especially difficult time for the city with a $350,000 upgrade into La Follete Park on the way.
Penterman said each department is doing what it can.
“We have a game plan,” Penterman said. “We had some vandalism also in our CE tunnel with graffiti. We cleaned that up yesterday. Having to shut them down at dusk is disappointing because we want people to utilize our parks and enjoy our parks and open spaces.”
Graff said if caught, an offender could face criminal charges, be given a ticket or be required to pay for the damages. He says each case is situational.
Anyone who sees any suspicious activity is asked to contact th
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