NEWS The curse of vandalism!


A spike in mindless vandalism is a major cause for concern


Over the past ‘Covid’ months, we have reported on over thirty cases of mindless vandalism carried out, in the main but not exclusively, by youngsters bored with lockdown.


These news stories have been gleaned from local press reports, but there have been countless other incidences reported on social media and, with repairs often running into five figures, is there any way that these actions can be stopped?


With golf courses particularly vulnerable due to their open nature, clearly security fencing is not an option. And, for the sports fields that have been targeted, the cost of fencing can be prohibitive, especially for the community clubs with shoestring budgets that use them.


Quad bikes, cars and motorbikes performing ‘donuts’ on sensitive grass areas seems to be the most prevalent method, but reports of cars being set on fire, course furniture being damaged and goalposts, cricket nets and other equipment being wrecked are not uncommon.


Additionally, burglaries have been on the rise in the past year with expensive to replace machinery and tools being stolen from groundsmens and greenkeepers sheds, usually by more organised gangs.


The latest cases involved Caird Park Golf Club (main image) and Guildford GC (inset and below), with repairs estimated to be both costly and time-consuming


Sadly, the police seem powerless to help as the only real way of apprehending the culprits is to catch them in the act.


Most of the security options, like CCTV, security fencing and alarms are costly to install. Warning signs have little or no effect - you can’t educate the uneducated - so what is the answer?


Hopefully, a return to regular play will reduce the number of incidences, but even that won’t stop these acts, often carried out after darkness falls.


If you have been affected by any of these issues, we’d love to hear from you. How much did the repairs cost? How was play affected? What counter measures have you put in place? Were the police able to offer any assistance, either by way of apprehending the culprits or offering security advice?


Drop our editor, Kerry Haywood, an email and we’ll put together some, hopefully, sound advice on ways to tackle the problem in a forthcoming issue of the magazine and on our website.


kerry.haywood@pitchcare.com


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PROUDLY BRITISH


PC April/May 2021


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