Vandalism at Jenny’s Shoppe in Monbulk.By Tania Martin
A MONBULK businesswoman is fed up with vandals defacing her shop windows.
Ellen Kop, owner of Jenny’s Shoppe, said it was time something is done about the continued barrage of vandalism in the main street of town.
She has had to replace six windows in the past two-and-a-half years and spent thousands of dollars on repairing windows.
Ms Kop said that in the latest attack on Saturday, 14 April, the shop’s two front windows and the front door were damaged.
Vandals defaced the windows using a sharp object and left a tag spelling the word “rad”.
On the same night the Monbulk Police Station had 11 windows damaged.
Ms Kop said it cost her more than $1200 to replace one window.
She said the vandals don’t realise the cost involved in replacing the windows.
“If they want to deface something, then they should do it to their own home,” she said.
“I don’t want a war with these people, but enough is enough.”
Senior Constable David Creek of Monbulk Police said the latest spate of vandalism was more than just graffiti.
He said using sharp objects to deface windows is far worse than paint used in most acts of graffiti because it is more damaging than paint or a marker.
Sen Const Creek said it was time traders started looking at putting in surveillance cameras so that the vandals could be caught.
He said cheap cameras could be hooked up to computer systems and used to capture acts of vandalism on camera.
“Traders can put the camera somewhere at the front of their shops and it will take a picture of the person who is defacing their windows,” he said. But Ms Kop said it was disappointing that traders were being targeted for no reason.
