Pingree Grove wants to identify vandals who destroyed new slide

A new slide delivered to a playground in Pingree Grove was destroyed by vandals in less than 24 hours, and police hope someone will come forward with information.

The $5,500 slide at the skate park off Wester Boulevard was vandalized sometime between 2:30 p.m. March 28 and 7 a.m. March 29, Director of Public Works Pat Doherty said. Workers had brought the slide to the playground and left it overnight, screened by street barriers, to install it and pour concrete the next day. In the morning, they found the slide and the barricades destroyed, Doherty said.

"(The vandals) used the barricades to beat the slide," he said.

The village sent out an alert Friday asking for help in identifying the culprits and indicated the slide won't be replaced.

"The village works very diligently to be conservative with our public funds and financial resources, and we simply cannot justify spending $11,000 in replacing this same slide in one year," the alert said.

The alert also said this was the second time vandals hit the slide after damaging it last year, but that wasn't entirely correct, Doherty said Monday. The original slide had developed cracks, likely due to age and possibly older kids using it, and the village decided to replace, it, he said.

"We had ended up with no leads that we were able to develop after canvassing the neighborhood and talking to the kids at the skate park," Police Chief Shawn Beane said. "We talked to all the regulars and they didn't know about anything about it. We don't know if they are not saying something, or if it's somebody from outside the area."

"The park is not an easy one to find, so we're thinking it's somebody from the area," Beane added.

Doherty said the village bought two slides - the second one was for another park - totaling $11,000. Pingree Grove's playgrounds were installed by developers and this was the village's first major playground equipment expense, he said. "It's a lot of tax dollars," he said.

It's baffling that no one would have seen anything, Doherty said. "That particular park, there is houses that back up there, and anytime there's more than two bottles thrown about, I get a call saying to come clean up the park," he said. "But now that this happens, nobody calls."

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (847) 464-4600.