Elgin’s Cooper Park fitted with CCTV following vandal attacks

CCTV cameras have been fitted in a park in the hope of catching the culprits behind a spate of vandalism.

Damage costing about £5000 to fix was caused in Elgin’s Cooper Park during the Spring.

Added to that, earlier this month, around 20 coping stones were forced off the edge of the boating lake and into the water.

It’s estimated that the repair bill could run into further thousands

Councillor Peter Bloomfield (Conservative, Elgin South) hopes those responsible for the most recent incident will have been caught by the new CCTV cameras.

He said: “This is mindless, absolutely mindless. And it begs the question why.

“This spoils it for everyone else who wants to enjoy Cooper Park.

“It just beggars belief why people would want to do this.

“The park is an amenity, and you have to wonder what joy do they get out of it.

“But this is being investigated and police are checking the CCTV footage.”

Sandy Keith (Elgin North, Labour) stated that the damage was obviously caused deliberately, and probably involved more then one person.

He said: “A lot of stones have been pushed into the pond. These people have really gone for it. Nobody should be vandalising anything.”

A Moray Council spokesperson said the most recent damage was being assessed and repairs would be carried out.

They added: “Unfortunately, this is not the first incident of vandalism we’ve seen at this area. It saddens us that anyone would want to damage a community facility in this way.

“We’d encourage anyone with information on this incident, or any other, to contact Police Scotland on 101.”

The three new CCTV cameras were installed around the park area earlier this month, and are connected to the Police Scotland network.