In what could be considered a cautionary tale, a social media post accusing a group of boys of vandalizing the Liberty Park bathroom has led to a public apology by park officials and a change in policy going forward.
Andrew Dwyer, executive director of the park district, said there are regrets about how the situation was handled.
“Being wrong and broadcasting misinformation that adversely affected two great families,” he said, is the biggest regret. “Also, our processes are not aligning with the ever-changing world around us.”
The incident began after the new bathroom at the splash pad was vandalized. When park officials checked the video feed from the security cameras, they identified a group of boys who were in the area at the time the vandalism occurred. Park officials then posted photos of the boys and asked social media followers for help in identifying them. The post was shared on at least one other Facebook page.
The problem was that the boys weren’t responsible for the vandalism.
Only after the families of the boys reached out to the park district did officials realize the mistake and remove the original post. An apology made online stated, “We strive for accuracy and accountability and while the evidence pointed us in one direction, we were wrong. We failed those young men, we will do better.”
Dwyer said publicly sharing a photo of a potential vandal did help the park district track down the guilty party after the Windmont bathroom was vandalized several years ago. But at that time, only about 30 people commented and interacted with that post, far fewer than the most recent incident, he said.
“With all of the improvements and forward progress of the district, the community is more invested and involved, resulting in more interest and engagement from the community,” he said.
Dwyer believes community feedback is vital, but “we erred and are appreciative of our residents holding us to a higher standard. Modifications to meet those standards are in motion.”
Dwyer said the park district is developing a protocol to address future acts of vandalism caught on video.
“We have identified a multitude of options including but not limited to: blurring faces, removing commenting options from posts that could illicit strong reactions, altering language to seek help from individuals, creating a community contact list of key people that are in position to identify individuals, asking the police department to post instead of us and consideration of not seeking public assistance in the future,” he said.
More importantly, Dwyer said the park district has engaged the families involved in this incident, and they have graciously agreed to advise and provide feedback on process changes moving forward to ensure they are current and in tune with the community on handling issues such as this.
As for the real culprits, further investigation by Dwyer that included several hours of reviewing various angles of the security cameras led to two other suspects in the bathroom vandalism.
Dwyer said he has turned over video evidence to the police department that depicts two young females who exited a vehicle driven by an adult who then began walking a dog.
“These two young ladies moved quickly and were against the building wall, which made them difficult to catch,” he said. Both girls were wearing Burger King crowns.
From what Dwyer observed on the video, the girls spent roughly an hour in the restroom and departed only five minutes before park district staff arrived to lock them up for the night.
“They were so close to being caught but slipped away moments before our maintenance team arrived,” he said.
According to Dwyer, the vehicle in which the girls were passengers has damage to the front grill and front left quarter panel. The photos of the car, woman, dog and two girls have been submitted to the police department, along with video of the vandalized restroom door before the girls entered the bathroom and after they exited.
