December 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 74

OPERATIONS
A Few Safety and Security
Solutions for Restrooms 
By Katie Navarra 

V

andals routinely target concession stands, storage sheds and
bathrooms, damaging expensive fixtures, " decorating " with
graffiti or helping themselves to supplies. Sometimes, the public restroom becomes an individual's personal shower stall. Restrooms can be particularly difficult to monitor and secure. Privacy is the
number one concern with safety a close second, when it comes to deciding
how to discourage troublemakers.
seconds. The machine then dispenses a 2-foot-long sheet of toilet paper,
and if the person needs more, they
must wait nine minutes before being
doled out a second ration.
These measures may seem extreme, but the fact remains that
providing a well-stocked, safe and
secure restroom at park and recreation facilities is a challenge. The
good news is that there are innovative and cost-effective methods
for achieving all these goals. Tra-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EL PASO PARKS AND RECREATION

Government officials in China
were so exasperated by the volume
of theft of a particular item from
one public bathroom that they resorted to extreme measures. In
2017, as detailed in an article in
The Washington Post, officials installed facial recognition software
in the restrooms at the Temple of
Heaven in Beijing to thwart toilet
paper thieves. When individuals
enter the facility, they are required
to stare into the machine for three

72

Parks & Recreation

cy Novak, CPRP, parks and recreation director for El Paso Parks
and Recreation, offers one solution
that has worked well for securing
his agency's remote facilities.

Flashcam
El Paso encompasses more than
250 parks and 16 recreation centers with varying restroom and
storage facilities. At one remote
sports complex, vandals repeatedly broke into the concession stand.
With each attempt, the maintenance staff progressively became
more and more elaborate with the
deterrents used. " Eventually, they
put a quarter-inch steel plate over
the door, which covered the locking mechanism so that you had
to reach in a contorted fashion to
unlock it, " he says. " Despite that,
vandals were still breaking in. "
When the situation was brought
to Novak's attention, he asked the
staff if they had considered security cameras. They had but assumed
it was too expensive since the infrastructure for live-feed video and
the staff to run it is costly. Novak
had another solution: a hardened,
solar-powered, motion-activated
security camera. Motion triggers a
verbal announcement, which can
be customized or pre-recorded, a
photo flash pops and the pictures
are downloaded, via a Bluetooth

El Paso Parks and Recreation has seen
a reduction in vandalism with the use
of a hardened, solar-powered motionactivated security camera.
| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G



December 2018 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2018 - Parks & Recreation

December 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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