Duane Hicks
The Town of Fort Frances has developed a new policy regarding vandalism and wilful damage as a result of repeated incidents at the Memorial Sports Centre.
In an interview Monday, Community Services manager George Bell said vandalism continues to be a regular source of grief for arena management.
“It’s an ongoing problem,” he noted. “We’ve got several broken windows.
“People just want to damage the arena.”
While broken seats had been the predominant issue in the past, more recently it’s been windows in arena doors broken by hockey players.
“Broken window coming off the ice is the most common,” said Bell. “Broken seats aren’t as bad since we put the cameras up, not near as bad.”
Bell said the policy is more or less what arena staff do currently, but now it is laid out as official policy.
“When someone takes their stick to the glass, we charge them. We call the police,” he stressed.
The policy states the town has made significant investments in facilities, general infrastructure, and staff.
But it also has experienced increasing costs for repairs and replacement due to acts of vandalism, wilful damage, accidental damage, and normal wear-and-tear.
The policy provides a framework for management to take appropriate action to ensure those who are misusing, damaging, and committing acts of vandalism against town property are dealt with in a timely manner that will minimize future unnecessary damage to municipal facilities.
The framework is as follows:
•Zero tolerance for acts of vandalism and wilful damage
Police will be called when any damage occurs at a municipal facility where, in the staff’s opinion, the damage has been caused by an act of vandalism or committed wilfully.
If the individual is known by staff, this information is to be communicated to the OPP and the town will co-operate with the police and court system to ensure individuals are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law;
•Accidental damage
All individuals who have caused damage to municipal facilities that is deemed accidental, but not an act of vandalism, will be required to pay in full for repair of the damage;
•Zero tolerance for physical violence and threatening behaviour
Physical violence, threatening behaviour, and abusive language will not be tolerated and individuals displaying this kind of behaviour will be asked to stop immediately.
If the behaviour continues, they will be asked to leave the facility.
If they do not leave, police will be called to escort them off the premises.
•Co-operation with community groups
The policy also notes that a variety of community groups that use and rent town facilities have adopted zero tolerance policies.
The policy states town administration will assist these groups when necessary, and co-operate with community partners to ensure “the safe and intended use of these facilities by the public.”
This could include “the restriction of access to municipal facilities or the pursuit of legal action at the request of the community group that has experienced repeated misuse of the facility by its users, spectators, or any other breaches of behaviour that is inappropriate.”
