September 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 25

Agencies report daylight thefts, including the
theft of an entire set of bleachers across the street
from the home of a Richmond, Virginia, area
police officer.
After numerous thefts of
blockflow devices in Los
Angeles parks, the city
now encases them in
protective mesh.

Virginia, area police
officer. Thieves drove
up, chained the portable bleachers to a
pick-up tr uck, a nd
dragged them away in
the middle of the day.
The police officer says
he thought the thieves
worked for the parks
department.

Top Ideas for Preventing
Theft of Metals from
Your Parks
1. Have staff and contractors mark copper and
other metals with indelible
paint or other markings at
the time of installation.

Impacts are Severe
The effect of this type
of theft on park and
recreation agencies
has been devastating. Not only are replacement and repair costs inordinately
high, but thefts disrupt business operations, require unplanned staff time, and
deprive the public of the use of parks and
facilities. Most significantly, because most
park and recreation agencies are self-insured, virtually none of this type of theft
is covered by insurance.
Risk Manager Wanda Wesley-Major of
the Maryland-National Capital Park and
Planning Commission explains that selfinsurance funds are created by park and
recreation agencies to avoid the high cost
of insurance and held as reserve funds
to pay out approved claims internally and
externally. Larger agencies may also hold
commercial property damage insurance
policies, but they usually have a $250,000
deductible, and don't cover these kinds of
losses. When an internal property damage claim is filed due to loss from theft,
the self-insurance fund may cover the
claim, but the payment of the claim effectively comes directly from the agency's
operating budget. Nor does the reckoning take long to occur-the bill comes
due at the turn of the next fiscal year.
T he losses to pa rk a nd recre ations agencies across the country are

eye-opening. Milwaukee County has documented $800,000 in metal theft losses in
the past five years. Other agencies have
documented lesser losses. But the Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation
may top the list for the greatest losses. By
its calculations, the agency has suffered
nearly $2 million in damages from copper
and other metal theft since 2008. Thefts
of copper in the Atlanta park system have
occurred from roof-top HVAC units, from
wires stripped out of light poles at athletic
fields, and in one extreme example, the
theft of all the wire from the community
center building at Selena Butler Park. The
structural damage to the building at Butler
Park from thieves who broke down interior walls to get at the copper in the building was so severe that the department
seriously considered razing the center
and writing it off as a total loss.
Chief of Park Design Paul Taylor says
the losses in Atlanta ultimately come from
the department's operating budget, and
are especially difficult to absorb in these
recessionary times. " The biggest losses
have been from large rooftop HVAC units,
and of those, the all-in-one-units at pools
have been the greatest cost to repair or
replace. The least expensive of these cost

www.NRPA .ORG

2. Try low-tech, low-cost
deterrents, such as Baltimore City's
chicken wire and foam insulation theft
preventers. (Please see main article.)
3. Incentivize staff to generate good
ideas for theft prevention.
4. Consider replacing copper, bronze,
and other metals with alternate materials,
such as stone, plastic, or composites.
5. Install electronic sensors or use video
surveillance for expensive HVAC
installations.
6. Don't wait till a theft has occurred-
identify and evaluate high-risk locations
and provide the best security and patrols
that are possible within your budget
7. Engage the public-raise the issue
through your communications channels;
ask volunteer groups and neighborhood
watch organizations, as well as park
neighbors to report suspicious activity.
8. Work with law enforcement agencies
to be sure they are including metal theft
awareness and prevention in patrols.
9. Create a public campaign to engage
media, elected officials, and prosecutors
to ensure that these crimes are taken
seriously.

SEPTEMBER 2011

Parks & Recreation 23

September 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2011 - Parks & Recreation