![\"Area](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/web-vandals1.jpg\")
<\/a>So far, the police investigation has turned up no witnesses and no leads.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a dead end at this point,\u201d said San Diego Police Department Community Relations Officer John Steffen, adding that the estimated damage to the vandalized trees was valued at around $5,000.<\/p>\n
Steffen urges any witnesses or anyone with any information about the vandalized trees to contact him by phone at 858-495-7971 or by email at JMSteffen@sandiego.gov<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Part of a larger problem<\/strong><\/p>\n The vandalism at Lake Murray Park is just the latest in a string of problems that local sports fields have experienced over the last several years. And it wasn\u2019t the first time trees were the target.<\/p>\n President of Patriots Baseball Nancy Hemmings said its ballpark, Shira Field, had an incident in which someone also cut a tree down for firewood in early December.<\/p>\n \u201cOur outfield butts up against the Mission Trails Golf Course and so there\u2019s a little corner back in there where someone came in and they cut a tree down,\u201d she said. \u201cThey had left it there over night, they cut it up into small pieces and when I came back the next day it was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Trees aren\u2019t the only things being stolen from the Patriots.<\/p>\n In mid-summer of last year, a storage container was robbed of a cart used to drag the infield, the drag itself was also stolen, as well as a pitching machine.<\/p>\n \u201cThey initially broke into the snack bar trying to see if there was anything there they could take,\u201d Hemmings said. \u201cThe only thing they got out of there was an old laptop computer, but they did take our slushie machine and we found it later in the day stored in the bushes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe storage container door was damaged during the robbery and insurance won\u2019t cover that,\u201d Hemmings said. \u201cOur season is starting here in another month or two and without the equipment, it just really puts us in bad shape.\u201d<\/p>\n Other issues the Patriots have experienced at the ball field include damage from skateboarding on the metal grandstands; graffiti on fencing; drug deals in the parking lot; people committing sex acts in the dugouts and stands after hours; and cars that spin donuts in the dirt parking lot.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest problem we have is we just invested a large amount of money from a county grant to upgrade the playing field,\u201d Hemming said. \u201cWe did an all new sprinkler system and an all new infield that we laser leveled and everything. We posted signs asking people to please stay off the field and they did good \u2014 until about a month ago.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, all of a sudden, they\u2019re getting on the field again and they\u2019re tearing everything up. We feel that the field is not being respected as it should be by the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n SCLL is also victim to people disrespecting their parks. Gagliano said that the Minor League field\u2019s scorebox is constantly being broken into so much that it is now almost never locked.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of drug paraphernalia found there, lots of condoms,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just horrible because we\u2019ve got our kids going through there and we\u2019re always asking the parent volunteers to watch what\u2019s in there and remove what they can.\u201d<\/p>\n Other sports organizations have been victims of theft as well.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I watch the news, this has happened all over San Diego; a lot of it seems to be in South Bay this year,\u201d said Terry Cords, president of Crusader Soccer and also chair of the San Carlos\/Lake Murray and Allied Gardens recreation councils.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s happened to us over the years,\u201d he said. \u201cProbably five or six years ago, Crusaders had a bunch of our goals taken. They stole them for the scrap aluminum and it probably cost us about $1,000 to replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Navajo Girls Fastpitch Softball league, which also uses fields in Lake Murray Park, experienced a recent theft when a small John Deere cart vehicle was stolen. It was later found in La Mesa after it ran out of gas and was returned by police.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only reason why they were able to get it back to Navajo was because Navajo had their sticker that said \u2018Navajo Fast Pitch\u2019 on the cart, so the police contacted the city,\u201d Gagliano said.<\/p>\n What can be done<\/strong><\/p>\n Preventing theft and vandalism at sports fields is easier said than done because youth sports leagues have little money to afford security patrols and merely locking up the equipment doesn\u2019t seem to be working.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say there\u2019s always a risk [of theft],\u201d Cords said. \u201cMost of the sports leagues have storage containers \u2014 they\u2019re the old at-sea storage containers, 20-foot and 40-foot containers, and they\u2019re locked with pad locks. I\u2019ve learned that pad locks keep honest people out; they don\u2019t keep dishonest people out.\u201d<\/p>\n Gagliano has another idea to keep dishonest people out.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish we could have lights there because it is super dark,\u201d she said, while admitting that it would be an uphill battle to get them. \u201cNone of the neighbors like the idea of lights.\u201d<\/p>\n Hemmings said there has been a degree of carelessness with keys to snack bars and storage containers, leaving them in plain site during weekend tournaments that have hundreds of out of the area visitors to the field who might have nefarious intentions while visiting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, as a league, have to do something a little bit better, I believe, to secure the property,\u201d she said. \u201cThe police do the best job they can to monitor [the field] but they have their hands full as well.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most important preventative measures is for the leagues to report every act of theft and vandalism to the police so they know where to beef up patrols, Officer Steffen said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all based upon where we see the crimes occurring, so if people aren\u2019t reporting them we don\u2019t know there\u2019s an issue,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you see something, you have to say something and then we can handle the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Community members can also help by treating the fields with respect, keeping pets on leashes while using the fields and cleaning up their trash. They can also make donations to leagues to help pay for damaged and stolen equipment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe operate on the bare minimum, but we do this because we\u2019re trying to provide a positive opportunity for these 13- and 14-year olds \u2014 trying to teach them values, respect and all this while they play the game of baseball,\u201d Hemming said.<\/p>\n To donate to Patriots Baseball, visit their GoFundMe page at gofundme.com\/ShiraField<\/em><\/a>. To donate to the San Carlos Little League, visit their website at sancarloslittleleague.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n