Vandals target parks

Park vandalism prompts push for cameras

Vandalism at Newcastle’s parks is becoming a recurring problem, and city officials are now considering surveillance cameras as a possible solution.

The issue came before the Newcastle City Council during its meeting on Monday, Oct. 5, where Public Works Supervisor Greg Stumpff reported an increase in vandalism at city parks.

Stumpff told the council that someone had been setting toilet paper on fire in the restrooms at Centennial Park. He also reported minor vandalism at Dow Park that required city employees to clean up.

“We’ve had more vandalism at parks,” Stumpff said, adding that the city had experienced three or four cases of park vandalism.

Stumpff said the city is looking into cameras for the parks but also trying to find a less expensive solution.

The discussion continued when Mayor Tyrel Owens described an incident he had recently witnessed at Centennial Park as he was driving by on the overpass.

Owens said he saw a youth approach the door of a bathroom where the city keeps supplies. The youth rattled the door handle and then attempted to kick the door open.

Owens said he called the non-emergency number to report the incident.

The mayor said the repeated vandalism has become increasingly frustrating.

“This vandalism stuff in our community is just getting out of hand,” Owens said during the meeting. “I just don’t understand why it’s getting to this point.”

Owens said the frequency of incidents is prompting the city to look more seriously at installing cameras in its parks.

The concern is not new.

In October 2025, Councilman Chris Kenney reported that the Parks Committee had discussed vandalism at two restroom locations, along with the ongoing Dow Park restroom project. Later that year, city records also referenced repairs to doors damaged by vandalism.

By September 2026, the problem had again become a topic of discussion by the Parks Committee. Kenney reported vandalism involving the volleyball net at Dow Park and additional damage to the Centennial Park restroom. He said three separate incidents had required repairs to doors, prompting discussion of camera systems and possible funding.

The city’s Dow Park restroom has since been completed and reopened. At the Sept. 21 council meeting, Stumpff reported that the project was complete, while Owens noted that the city had received several compliments about the new restrooms.

The latest incidents, however, indicate that replacing or repairing facilities has not eliminated the problem.

For city officials, the question now appears to be how to protect public facilities without placing an unnecessary burden on taxpayers.

Cameras could provide another tool for deterring vandalism and identifying those responsible, but the cost of such a system remains a consideration.

For Owens, the issue is becoming less about individual acts of damage and more about a pattern that is affecting public spaces throughout Newcastle.

And, as he told the council, the city would prefer not to have reached the point where cameras are necessary in the first place.