Effective ways to curb vandalism?

  • Thread starter Harmony
  • Start date
In summary, the conversation discusses the issue of vandalism in schools and possible solutions to address it. Suggestions include cooperation between teachers and safety units, setting up anti-crime societies, and providing counseling for students. Other ideas include installing cameras, providing diversion through sports, and implementing harsh punishments such as making students pay for damages and writing essays on the consequences of vandalism. Some also suggest involving parents and using public corporal punishment as a deterrent.
  • #1
Harmony
203
0
Our teacher has given us a discussion topic : Think of 3 effective ways to solve vandalism problem at school. And she asked us to think of "mature" and "in-depth" method.

Well, so far our group can only think of three points:
1) Cooperation between the discipline teacher, Prefect and Safety Units.
- Increase the rate of patrolling around the school and spot check to prevent any students to bring destructive tools to school.

2) Co-curriculum activities
- Set up an anti-crime society to help prefect and teachers with their tasks.
- Set up physical activities related co-curricular activities such as boxing to help the students to release their anger and tension.

3) Counseling (bla, bla, bla, all the old stuff you write in your primary school essay)

Frankly...the above points will almost certainly be unpractical...and certainly childish.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: Any recommendation is welcomed!

p/s : I prefer Physics and Maths over essay...headache.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
Cameras monitoring the school.
 
  • #3
I believe it's Singapore where you get horse whipped for doing things like vandalism, and they don't have any vandalism problems there.

I think that means install cameras then make it widely known who vandalizes what. Spread it around community leagues, churches, make all teachers aware, put their pictures on the poster board behind the glass case. Eventually somebody will beat the kid. o:)
 
  • #4
Take away the cause of vandalism.

Why would somebody be destructive in public? Isn't all primary primitive action ultimately about forfillment of the most important demands of existence? security, propagation, wealth, recognition.

Why vandalism? To convey a message: I'm here, I'm important, I'm a hero, I'm afraid of nothing, look how brave I can shatter this window. So, I'm more than ready to defend our group against any threat. I can do anything, I'm the leader, so I'm the ideal partner who deserves love and affection and admiration of course.

So if you can give him all that, there is no need to be destructive. If not, give him plenty of diversion. competition, sport, sport, sport.

The most certain way to induce vandalism?: indifference, no attention. it takes a lot of effort to raise kids (boys).
 
Last edited:
  • #5
Andre said:
Why vandalism? To convey a message: I'm here, I'm important, I'm a hero, I'm afraid of nothing, look how brave I can shatter this window. So, I'm more than ready to defend our group against any threat. I can do anything, I'm the leader, so I'm the ideal partner who deserves love and affection and admiration of course.

I would tend to think most destruction is done by followers. One guy is bold enough to break a window, then suddenly his 5 friends think "oh cool he totally smashed it, my turn!"
As a parent you probably know somebody who is a natural leader, and when they lead your son into bad things you say they're a "bad influence". In that regard, your son is probably a follower. When alone, your son doesn't cause trouble, but your son can be a monster when he's around that bad influence kid. If he's always a trouble maker, even when alone, your kid is that bad influence kid.

Harsh punishment (non-violent in North America) is probably enough to deter vandalism. Make him pay to fix the damage, all of it. Take away things like recess. Make him sit away from anybody who would be thought of as his friend. Make him eat lunch in the school office where he has nobody to talk to. Being treated like a second class citizen for a few weeks might shake the kid up a little, hopefully enough to prevent further vandalism.

I should point out that the "zero tolerance" craze is not exactly harsh punishment, and I do not think it should be used against vandalism. Being expelled from every school in a district does not seem all that bad when you hate school and respect is given to those who break the rules. You smash a window and suddenly you're a legend among your friends, wow! For the short term, this is great PR! For the long term, it means the kid will end up with a lack of proper education because no school will accept him. I knew a guy who was expelled for attacking a kid with a butter knife (the kind of knife with no sharp edges), and ultimately it lead to him being banned from every single school in the area, so right now he has no high school education. He works at a crappy job and he has no prospects for the future. Yes it's wrong to attack another student who provokes you, but it's also wrong to curse somebody into mediocrity for the rest of their life because the school system doesn't know what else to do in response.
 
Last edited:
  • #6
30 page essays on the cost of vandalism to society assigned to all who are caught vandalizing, and they are made to sit in the library for supervised detention for 2 hr every day after school and 4 hr every weekend until the report is completed to the teacher's satisfaction. :devil:
 
  • #7
People vandalize because they lack empathy for others. They do not appreciate that there actions have consequences for other people.
 
  • #8
Moonbear said:
30 page essays on the cost of vandalism to society assigned to all who are caught vandalizing, and they are made to sit in the library for supervised detention for 2 hr every day after school and 4 hr every weekend until the report is completed to the teacher's satisfaction. :devil:

Thanks for all the marvelous suggestion and idea! I did not expect there will be any reply at all:smile:

And by the way...the suggestion above...:bugeye: I will certainly think twice if I am thinking of vandalising:biggrin:
 
  • #9
Public corporal punishment, six of the best with their pants down, i think it
would work on football thugs as well, the punishment taking place on the
pitch before the match starts.
 
  • #10
There was a trial here in the UK where areas suffering particularly badly from vandalism (areas as in particular walls etc.) were hooked up with a speaker than played classical music 24/7. It worked, took 4 days after the installation for some graffiti to appear (when it took around 15 minutes for vandals to return to the freshly painted scene otherwise). I would suspect there's several reasons this approach works - firstly, from a psychological point of view, people assume that since there's music being played outside, someone must be paying attention. Secondly, they don't want to listen to classical music.

The solution to riding the world of vandals then seems pretty obvious :smile:

That and I whole heartedly agree with wolram; a fresh beating would do the trick. (When someone is entered to the A-wing of a UK prison - that is, the most dangerous zone, murderers etc - they are handed a playstation 2 and a television, have unmediated access to toasters/microwaves/many conveniences.)
 
Last edited:
  • #11
moonbear said:
30 page essays on the cost of vandalism to society assigned to all who are caught vandalizing, and they are made to sit in the library for supervised detention for 2 hr every day after school and 4 hr every weekend until the report is completed to the teacher's satisfaction.

Harmony said:
Thanks for all the marvelous suggestion and idea! I did not expect there will be any reply at all:smile:

And by the way...the suggestion above...:bugeye: I will certainly think twice if I am thinking of vandalising:biggrin:

I don't think so, the higher the penalty the more heroic it is to risk it, and the more admiration the "heroes" get.

Better think of something that ridicules them in front of the gang. That's the most deadly that can happen.
 
  • #12
Andre said:
I don't think so, the higher the penalty the more heroic it is to risk it, and the more admiration the "heroes" get.
Nah, being sequestered in a library where nobody else can see you takes away all the fun. Of course, I think everyone missed the real point...a lot of vandalism occurs during those idle hours between when school ends and parents arrive home from work, when kids are unsupervised and left to their own devices. Forcing them to sit in a library, supervised, during those hours, simply removes them from the street so they can't vandalize. And, they might accidentally learn something while there.


Better think of something that ridicules them in front of the gang. That's the most deadly that can happen.
I don't think so. I think that's what they want, public attention. I know (hope) people are mostly joking about the idea of public corporal punishment, but that would probably have exactly the opposite of the desired effect. They could show off how tough they are by taking their punishment publicly and then bragging about it.

Being trapped in a library to write an essay is not much of a punishment to brag about...can you even imagine the type of kids who are prone to vandalism going around bragging, "Yeah, look at my kick butt essay! I showed them!" The difficulty of implementing it, though, is you really need a dedicated teacher or other adult to supervise them. If they just sit there babysitting while the kids write 30 pages of crap, then it's a challenge for the vandals to see how fast they can write 30 pages of crap and just how little effort they can get away with to get out of detention in the shortest time, and then that defeats the entire purpose. If you have a truly dedicated teacher who really forces them to do some quality research and writing, there's no glory or quick escape, it's real work. The scary thing is, they might learn more in detention than in their classes with the more one-on-one approach to having a responsible adult actually having high expectations of them and making them sit down and do school work.

Of course, the topic of the essay could be changed for each student. Perhaps some lessons on art history for the graffiti artist, or an essay about windows from glass production to installation for the kid who smashes a window.

The other side of it is that when the detention lasts until the assignment is done right, they are forced to accomplish something productive, not just while away the time twiddling their thumbs and marking off days on the calendar. And, you make them turn into their worst nightmare...a nerd who has to read and write and study every day! :rofl:
 
  • #13
If every surface of the school were on fire vandalism would be difficult...
 
  • #14
russ_watters said:
If every surface of the school were on fire vandalism would be difficult...

:rofl: Well, that certainly would be a creative approach. :rofl:
 
  • #15
Andre said:
Why vandalism? To convey a message: I'm here, I'm important, I'm a hero, I'm afraid of nothing, look how brave I can shatter this window. So, I'm more than ready to defend our group against any threat. I can do anything, I'm the leader, so I'm the ideal partner who deserves love and affection and admiration of course.

That's the message for the public. The true message behind it is: my mother and father never really cared much about me.

It's as simple as that. :smile:
 
  • #16
ShawnD said:
Take away things like recess.

:rofl: I think the crowd we're talking about is a wee bit older than that.

which state are you in? different states tend to have different policies on "acceptable" forms of punishment
 
Last edited:
  • #17
You need cameras period.

People vandalize in the washrooms at work all the time. Impossible to really crack down on that. One time the whole washroom was written on. Every inch of it. Then it got painted so it was all gone. Yet, it ended up all written again. Then painted again. Then written again. Now, it just got painted awhile ago, and now there is a big bold sentence at the top of the washroom wall that reads... "Think paint can stop us!"

So, paint does not work.
 
  • #18
JasonRox said:
Now, it just got painted awhile ago, and now there is a big bold sentence at the top of the washroom wall that reads... "Think paint can stop us!"

and this was done by a coworker?
 
  • #19
a lot of the vandals i knew were vandals because they didn't have anything better to do with their time. it wasn't like "i need to prove to my friends I am a bad ass. to do this, I am going to throw rocks at windows", it was more like "im bored. i wonder if this window will dent, shatter, or if its punk proof...its punk proof?! i need a bigger rock! I am on a mission now". part of it was knowing that it was wrong and the absurdity of it all was comical, and part of it was the thrill of confrontation that was going to ensue (for those who haven't had the pleasure, running from police can be an interesting way to spend a friday night with friends).

with this in mind, i would suggest a youth center where kids can play basketball, shoot some pool, and play some arcades with adults around who know a thing or two about troubled youth. people who wouldn't say things like "YOUNGSTER! you can't curse around here like that! if you can't be a gentlemen then i have to ask you to leave good sir!" because after all, you want the type of kids who's every third word is something vulgar to spend their time here instead of giving windows the rock test.

beatings would work quite well i think, but then you have an under stimulated youth who ends up having even less stimulation, and when your that starved for something to spend your time on, suggestions of others becomes a lot more appealing of an alternative (pimps, drug dealers, worse)
 
  • #20
JasonRox said:
You need cameras period.

People vandalize in the washrooms at work all the time. Impossible to really crack down on that. One time the whole washroom was written on. Every inch of it. Then it got painted so it was all gone. Yet, it ended up all written again. Then painted again. Then written again. Now, it just got painted awhile ago, and now there is a big bold sentence at the top of the washroom wall that reads... "Think paint can stop us!"

So, paint does not work.

this reminds me of a billboard that was on my way to work. it was one of those "got milk?" adds but someone crossed out "milk" and wrote "herpes" to make it say "got herpes". they took the add down of course, leaving bare plywood, then someone wrote "you can't get rid of herpes!" on it. :rofl:

it just goes to show you that vandalism can sometimes enrich our lives after all
 
  • #21
devil-fire said:
with this in mind, i would suggest a youth center where kids can play basketball, shoot some pool, and play some arcades with adults around who know a thing or two about troubled youth. people who wouldn't say things like "YOUNGSTER! you can't curse around here like that! if you can't be a gentlemen then i have to ask you to leave good sir!" because after all, you want the type of kids who's every third word is something vulgar to spend their time here instead of giving windows the rock test.
That's a very good point. The kids those centers are often built to keep off the streets are usually the ones who get kicked out of them for breaking the rules. Instead of being told, "follow the rules or get out," which is probably how their parents treat them too, it would be much better to work with them to actually get them to learn to follow those rules.

They really need something constructive to do with their time, and I suspect a large part of the problem is they have never had guidance about how to do that...i.e., they don't have parents who take an active role in helping them choose activities, or for that matter, who even pay attention to where they are let alone what they're doing. If their parents grounded them for getting into trouble, and threw every chore in the book at them as punishment, they wouldn't have time to get into trouble again.
 
  • #22
devil-fire said:
this reminds me of a billboard that was on my way to work. it was one of those "got milk?" adds but someone crossed out "milk" and wrote "herpes" to make it say "got herpes". they took the add down of course, leaving bare plywood, then someone wrote "you can't get rid of herpes!" on it. :rofl:

it just goes to show you that vandalism can sometimes enrich our lives after all

Now, that's gold.
 
  • #23
The police speak of something like a "broken window" theory. If a window goes unrepaired, more are likely to be broken. Immediately after an act of vandalism, renovate the affected object.
 

1. What are the most effective ways to prevent vandalism?

Some of the most effective ways to prevent vandalism include increasing surveillance and security measures, implementing community involvement and awareness programs, and creating consequences for those who are caught vandalizing.

2. How can community involvement help to curb vandalism?

Community involvement can help to curb vandalism by creating a sense of ownership and responsibility within the community. When individuals feel connected to their community, they are less likely to engage in destructive behaviors like vandalism.

3. Are there any specific tactics that have been proven to be successful in reducing vandalism?

Yes, there are certain tactics that have been proven to be successful in reducing vandalism, such as using graffiti-resistant materials, implementing curfews in areas known for vandalism, and increasing lighting in these areas to deter potential vandals.

4. What role does education play in curbing vandalism?

Education can play a significant role in curbing vandalism by teaching individuals about the impact of their actions on the community and the consequences of vandalizing. It can also help to promote positive behaviors and provide alternative outlets for creativity and self-expression.

5. How can technology be used to prevent vandalism?

Technology can be used in various ways to prevent vandalism, such as installing security cameras, using motion sensor lights, and implementing tracking systems for high-risk areas. It can also be used to quickly report and identify vandals, making it easier for authorities to take action.

Similar threads

Replies
1
Views
725
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
16
Views
1K
  • General Discussion
Replies
28
Views
9K
  • General Discussion
Replies
9
Views
5K
Replies
20
Views
3K
Replies
10
Views
2K
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
11
Views
5K
Replies
17
Views
8K
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
4
Views
3K
Back
Top