Council urges the community to report vandalism

Lockyer Valley Regional Council is calling on the community to keep an eye out for anti-social behaviour and vandalism over the summer break.

Mayor Tanya Milligan said vandalism tends to increase during holiday periods as evidenced by recent damage to Council’s Christmas displays in Gatton, the musical instruments in Centenary Gardens and a mess of bottles and cans left in a children’s playground.

“Six months ago, we were led to close the public toilets in Littleton Park, Gatton following repeated cases of vandals smashing door locks, blocking and flooding toilets and lighting fires,” she said.

“Public toilets at Laidey Recreational Reserve have also been targeted numerous times with bowls and cisterns completely smashed.

“Over the past weekend, a number of our Christmas decorations, installed to brighten up the community’s end of year and Christmas celebrations, were needlessly and intentionally damaged, which comes at a cost to the community to replace.

“The mess of bottles and cans left at the Lake Apex barbeque and picnic area and inside the playground area reflected a total lack of care for the wider community and the safety of children.

“There is absolutely no reason or excuse for taking alcohol into a kids’ playground, and then to leave bottles where they could be broken and cause considerable risk to children is quite disgusting behaviour.

Mayor Milligan called on the community to keep an eye out for these poor behaviours and to report them, so that these valuable community recreational spaces can be maintained for the enjoyment of families.

“We understand it will be a very small minority of people across a range of ages involved in these behaviours, and where we have CCTV footage, we will provide it to the Police,” Mayor Milligan said.

“Vandalism is not a victimless crime. The funds we spend on repairing vandalism are funds we don’t have for improvements to a range of community facilities such as the very parks where damage is occurring.”

Reports can be made to Council after hours on 1300 005 872, Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or the Police on triple zero.