Over the past week, incidents of vandalism have occurred in parks and services around Bonneville County, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.
On June 19, six young trees were vandalized where their branches were cut or some were broken. On Friday, an electrical box was damaged at McCowin Park’s pickleball and tennis court.
Josh Stephens, parks superintendent for Idaho Falls Parks and Rec, said trees are expensive and can range between $100 to $1,000. For the trees in Reinhardt Park, he said, they are within $5,000 to $10,000 just for the trees alone.
“That doesn’t include the manpower to go out and cut the stumps off, and then, you know, we have to re-purchase the trees and replant those. So there’s a good two or three days with a handful of crew members to get that back to how it was,” Stephens said.
Stephens said that typically younger individuals are causing damage in parks when they stay out late.
“It ramps up quite a bit when school gets out,” Stephens said.
Sgt. Bryan Lovell, public information officer with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, said vandalism tends to center around juveniles and teens but this type of crime fluctuates throughout the year.
The city of Idaho Falls faces vandalism in the form of individuals kicking off the heads of sprinklers, graffiti on park structures, and other incidents.
Recently, there was an incident at Funland where security cameras caught multiple individuals ripping off the window shades of the log building, breaking into it and removing the cameras. Tautphaus Park also suffered graffiti and other damage.
Idaho Falls Parks and Rec Assistant Park Superintendent Tyler Smith said up to $7,000 worth of damage was caused at Funland.
Stephens said the city pays around $30,000 to $50,000 yearly to cover the cost of repairing and cleaning up vandalism incidents.
In Ammon, City Administrator Micah Austin said the city was able to determine who caused the damage to McCowin Park’s tennis court through surveillance video. He said the individuals who caused the damage to the electrical panel were people who wanted to keep playing pickleball into the evening and night.
“They vandalized the electrical panel so they could manually reset the timer and then continue to play pickleball,” Austin said.
The other vandalism that occurred at the park was caused by juveniles who were messing with the panel.
Austin said ways to help the city would be for parents to educate their children on why vandalism is never a fun thing to do.
“It costs somebody something, and it should never be a source of entertainment for kids in the evenings,” Austin said.
For Ammon and Idaho Falls, parks are closed at 11 p.m. Stephens said for Idaho Falls, they have hired a security company to patrol the park grounds from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. in some of the more problematic parks.
“Now we have them at Reinhardt, Freeman Park, Riverwalk, and the big busy parks is where we have them focus their attention,” Stephens said.
Stephens said to report vandalism and to call their office at 208-612-8479.
Lovell said another way to report is to call dispatch about vandalism at 208-529-1200 or submit an anonymous tip at East Idaho Crime Stoppers .
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