Law enforcement cracking down on graffiti in Michiana - WNDU
NAPPANEE, Ind. (WNDU) - Graffiti is popping up in several Michiana communities most recently in Goshen and Nappanee.
Officials say vandalism is taking place from public parks to private buildings.
Officers have to be pretty lucky to catch whoever is doing this in the act.
That’s why they’re relying on eyes and ears in the community to help them pinpoint the people responsible for this.
“It’s mostly designs, some graffiti-style initials we think, or some symbols. There are some smiley faces, but nothing overly artistic. You’re not going to see any Banksy art on this thing,” said Napanee Police Department detective Nik Havert.
While they may never go for millions of dollars, these designs are getting some attention--just not the right kind.
Here in Nappanee, you can see where someone made their mark from these buildings on the south part of town, all the way north to Stauffer park.
The vandalism means no skating here until this is cleaned up, something Det. Havert says no skater ever wants to hear.
“I used to be a skater back in high school so to all the skaters out there, if you know who did this, they shut the park down for you. Like if we found out the skate park got shut down because some fool decided to spray paint it, we would not be happy and we’d be trying to find out who did this. So, if you skate kids know who this is, please call. We’d love to get the park back open for you,” he said.
Tuesday morning, park maintenance crews spotted graffiti on the main sign and on one of the buildings at Mill Street Park in Goshen and quickly cleaned it up.
Unlike the tags in Nappanee, the park maintenance director said this graffiti depicted profane language and images.
“It takes a considerable amount of time. Often, if the maintenance staff doesn’t do it, the cleaning staff will do it, but someone is still here. It takes a fair amount of time to repaint a building or a door or something,” said Goshen Park maintenance director Kevin Yoder.
Det. Havert says it will take them several days to clean up all the graffiti across Nappanee.
The penalty for vandalism falls under criminal mischief, which can range between a Class-B misdemeanor and a Level-5 felony.
Detective Havert added that folks who live near any reports of vandalism should take a look at what their outdoor security cameras may have captured if they have them, as another way to help them gather clues.
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source: https://www.wndu.com/2022/04/06/law-enforcement-cracking-down-graffiti-michiana/
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