SAN MARCOS: Security cameras going in on two city properties

Officials say cameras will deter, help catch taggers and other vandals

By ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer | Friday, June 13, 2008 5:30 PM PDT ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Plagued by recurring graffiti attacks and vandalism, the city is turning to technology to help authorities monitor activity at some municipal properties.

Community services Director Craig Sargeant-Beach said Thursday that security cameras have been installed around the outside of the city's civic center complex near San Marcos Boulevard and Rancheros Drive and in an adjacent recreation area.

The cameras will go live as soon as cable installation and other work necessary to operate them is finished, probably within several weeks, he said.

Hollandia Park ---- under construction northwest of Mission Hills High School ---- will also be equipped with cameras when the new park opens this fall.

Sargeant-Beach said the park's cameras will focus in large part on a skatepark within the facility that has been hit several times by taggers and other vandals who have sneaked inside the property.

"I don't know that it's necessarily rampant or that much greater than ever before," Sargeant-Beach said about graffiti and vandalism in San Marcos in general. "But it's just something that we want to try to make the effort and get a handle on it and stop it if at all possible."

Any action captured by the electronic eyes will be preserved on digital video recorders. The system will enable sheriff's deputies to go back and review the tape if and when negative behavior occurs, Sargeant-Beach said.

Plans also call for security cameras to be incorporated into two other parks scheduled to start construction this year.

"As always, we're trying to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate any problems and try to correct them before they happen," Sargeant-Beach said.

Taggers and vandals are an issue in virtually every city, though the extent of the problem can vary greatly. Officials and law enforcement officers in San Marcos said the city doesn't suffer as much vandalism as other North County communities.

Sargeant-Beach said graffiti and other destruction tends to show up here sporadically, with weeks or even months of no activity followed by sudden spikes.

"It's not a huge problem, but it's annoying," he said.

The issue of vandalism was highlighted about a week ago when Santa Fe Hills residents woke up to find their development had been heavily peppered with graffiti overnight.

Although the incident led some to speculate that gang members in or outside the city were responsible, authorities said they believe most of the graffiti that surfaces in the city is done by local teens and young adults looking for kicks or showing off.

In an effort to keep the problem under control, the city employs graffiti cleanup crews who use a variety of solvents, paints and other tools to erase any tagging done on city property. The teams' goal is to eliminate the marks within 24 hours after they are reported to a city graffiti hot line, city spokeswoman Jenny Peterson said.

"What we've found, just generally, is that the quicker you remove it, the less likely it is to recur," she said.

Most San Marcos parks have caretakers who live on-site. A house for one is under construction within view of the skatepark at Hollandia Park, which will not open until the caretaker has moved in, Sargeant-Beach said.

A fledgling city program sends a handful of volunteer rangers out to patrol local parks and trails. City officials first tried an electronic eye last year, when a single camera was installed at Mulberry Park on the east side of San Marcos.

That pilot program was so successful that the city is expanding it, Sargeant-Beach said.

"The security cameras are just one more tool to being able to have surveillance without having to have a police officer there," he said. "It's tough to have somebody just sitting around waiting until someone does something. ... It's even harder to have a park ranger or somebody else there right at moment someone does something bad."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.