Windsor considers motion detectors in parks to deter vandals

Windsor parks staffare considering installing motion-sensor cameras in public parks in orderto catch vandals who regularly destroy the grasswith their vehicles.

Sneaking into parks and tearing up the turf by spinning a vehicle's tires is a long-standingtradition among young vandals.

Cityparks manager YvanMantha has seen this sort of damage consistently during his 30 years of working in Windsor, but the work is more noticeable when resources are spread thin because of budget cuts.

"It may seem like more of a problem because everybody's more aware of that dollar," he said. "Wedon't have as much staff andeverything costs more money."

When resources were more plentiful, staff could afford to spend half a day repairing a vandal's damage, but not in the existing financial landscape, Mantha said.

He and his staff have looked at motion-sensor cameras used by hunters who set the devices up along trails to identify animal patterns. Similarly, Manthacould install cameras in parks and capture images of license plates as a way to catch the vandals.

"We're looking at something that's at least clear enough to take a picture of a plate because that's the only way we're going to catch them," he said.

Residents upset

Jessie Lee often watches the headlights of cars and trucks whipping around the night sky from her home near Tranby Park.

She regularly sees teenagers gathering in the green space that she usesregularly for walking.

"You see the lights going round and round...really fast," she said. It's "like they're having a really fun time with the cars on the lawn of the park."

Lee never noticed vandalsbringingtheir vehicles intoTranbyfive years ago. But once a nearby parking lot was built, drivershad easier access to the park.

As frustrating as the damage is for city staff and residents, Lee tries to understand what the vandals are doing.

"They're just being young kids, having fun," she said. "It hasn't really ruined the park that noticeably. If it continues or gets to be every night, then yes, it would bother me a lot."