Cerritos Park is vandalized

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Vandals hit Cerritos Park over the weekend, defacing the front entrance and park benches with gang-related graffiti and prying open a bathroom door, less than a month after the park was dedicated.

“These parks are created for people to use, and when stuff like this happens, it really gets under our skin,” Glendale Police Officer John Balian said. “Obviously we want people out there being safe and being able to take their kids without any problems or issues. And here you have a new park and someone puts graffiti and doors are pried open.”

Mayor Ara Najarian visited Cerritos on Thursday, surveying the facilities, where there were still small traces of carved graffiti on the mirror and toilet seat of the men’s bathroom.

“It’s just a shame that people — whether from this neighborhood or, more likely, outside of the city — come to the park to deface it,” Najarian said. “And we will not be deterred in tracking these guys down. . . . We’ll even provide them crayons to write on their jailhouse walls.”

Damages were estimated at about $350 for the four to five hours it took maintenance staffers to remove the graffiti and repair bathroom locks, said George Chapjian, director of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.

Promptly eradicating graffiti is necessary to prevent further damage, Balian said.

“The problem with graffiti is if you don’t clean it up quickly, you’ll have another gang come in and paint over it,” he said.

Vandalism is a problem in Glendale parks, and the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department is pursuing increased security, including surveillance cameras, Chapjian said.

“We’re coming back to the City Council with some thoughts on park security at Brand and Carr and other parks,” he said. “And I think we’re going to include this park as well.”

Cerritos was dedicated on Oct. 11 and is open between daylight and 10 p.m., when park gates are closed and the facilities locked, he said.

Police are asking for the public’s participation to help keep Cerritos and other park safe from vandals.

“We can’t do it alone,” Balian said. “So it’s imperative that we have the public’s help in noticing suspicious activity and reporting it to police.”

Contacting police before a crime happens is always more helpful to officers than calling after a crime has occurred, he added.

“We remain one of the safest cities in the country for our population, and part of that is due to our residents keeping an eye out for suspicious activity and reporting that,” Najarian said.