Kettering Police are trying to find out who stacked picnic tables on top of each other, climbed up on the roof of a park shelter and tore shingles off the roof.
The damage is believed to have been done between 9 a.m. Monday and noon Tuesday at Indian Riffle Park, 2801 E. Stroop Road, according to the police report.
“It’s always quite a problem when you see a roof being torn off,” said Kettering parks manager Barry Sanders.
A city of Kettering Parks Department employee reported the damage to Kettering Police on Tuesday afternoon, according to the police report.
The vandals also overturned picnic tables and garbage cans, and pulled a sign from the ground, the report said.
It will cost between $150 and $275, mostly in labor, to replace the roof shingles that were ripped off the top of the shelter, and will cost the department time and energy during this busy season, Sanders said.
“Dressing up the beds and edging and with summer staff a little bit shorter than we would like to see, that’s always a problem having added things to your plate,” Sanders explained.
The shelter that sustained damage is the park’s newest shelter, which was built within the last few years, according to Sanders.
The city’s parks are rarely vandalized, but when they are, it comes in waves, Sanders said.
“I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather, but periodically things do happen,” he added.
“It’s kind of bizarre. I don’t understand why someone would want to mess up such a great place for kids to play,” said Fairborn resident Jill Evans, who was visiting the park with her children on Thursday morning.
The last costly damage Sanders remembered at Indian Riffle Park was graffiti on the Skate Plaza in 2012.
“That was pretty significant. They really had some time to do some writing. and that can kind of that add up to man power as well for labor to get it cleaned up,” Sanders said.
Police have no suspects at this time, according to Kettering Police Officer John Jung.
Anyone with any information on the incident should call Kettering Police at 937-296-2555.