Police are investigating an overnight vandalism spree at Salt Spring’s Portlock Park that left multiple structures and Capital Regional District (CRD) vehicles graffitied with spray paint.
The damage was discovered by the park supervisor Saturday morning, Nov. 15, according to Salt Spring’s senior CRD manager Dan Ovington, who then notified RCMP and staff. Ovington said the vandal or vandals must’ve first broken into the seacans being used for storage at the park.
“And all that’s in there is park maintenance equipment and tools,” said Ovington. “But they found some green spray paint that we use for the John Deere tractor.”
Walls, doors, windows and all of the CRD vehicles at the park were covered with a mix of profane/provocative words and symbols in that green paint, Ovington said, including a recently purchased truck and the picnic shelter donated by the Lions Club.
Ovington said Monday that staff still needed to assess the total value of the damage.
While some of the cleaning and repair costs will be recovered through insurance, he said, there’s still a deductible to be paid — and that it happened all at was disappointing.
“You know, this isn’t ‘CRD property,’ it’s community property,” said Ovington. “There’s certainly a big impact to the work that all the guys do, but there’s also a financial impact — because all of the parks and recreation services we provide are only funded through Salt Spring’s tax revenues.”
Anyone with information about the vandalism is urged to contact RCMP at 250-537-5555 or submit information anonymously at bccrimestoppers.com/leave-a-tip.