Marshfield weighs trail cameras amid rise in vandalism

MARSHFIELD — The Select Board, Recreation Trails Committee and Police Department are moving forward with plans to install security cameras in areas of public trails repeatedly subject to vandalism.

Ned Bangs, chair of the Recreation Trails Committee, requested that the Select Board consider installing cameras because of an increase in vandalism over the past year, including spray paint, unattended fire pits, and illegal dumping of trash and furniture.

Over two Select Board meetings Jan. 12 and 29, the three parties discussed the rationale and privacy concerns associated with security cameras, ultimately agreeing to schedule more meetings to craft a policy on cameras surveilling public trails.

Bangs said that the Conservation Commission and Police Chief Phil Tavares support the installation of security cameras.

At Couch Beach, workers discovered a portable toilet flipped over, as well as a fire left unattended and boards ripped up. Backpacks left at the scene contained information identifying the owners as students from another town.

Bangs said that the most recent incident of vandalism occurred prior to a mountain bike race in Webster’s Wilderness, a town-owned conservation property. A crew set up traffic cones and caution tape Jan. 10 to block off an area for the race, and discovered on the morning of Jan. 11 that the cones and tape were gone.

Bangs identified five “problem areas” that he thinks could benefit from surveillance cameras: a small parking lot on Route 3A, the start of a cross-country trail on Forest Street, the Jose Carreiro Woodlands off of Maryland Street, the high point of Carolina Hill, and Couch Beach.

“It’s a continuing problem,” Bangs said.

Select Board Chair Eric Kelley expressed some wariness about the idea, saying that the town should craft a policy controlling when and where the cameras should be installed.

“We're not looking to do cameras on every trail, but we'd like to work with a group to develop a policy that seems fair to work on and that would address the issues that we have,” Bangs said.

Kelley said that the policy should include input from relevant town entities and residents, and that the parties involved must decide who is responsible for installing the cameras and obtaining footage to send to the police department for review.

Replacing stolen equipment and cleaning trash away consumes time and resources, and Select Board Member Stephen Darcy said that catching the perpetrators on camera could help the town to recoup some of those clean-up expenses.

“These [cameras] aren't going up everywhere,” Darcy said. “They're only going up in places where there have been repeat offenses and violations, so it would be very selective and judicious.”

Lieutenant William Sullivan of the Marshfield Police Department said in the Jan. 29 meeting that cameras can be put up and taken down as vandalism in certain areas changes.

“The cameras are a good investigative tool, and we can deploy them wherever in town we need on a problem-oriented basis,” Sullivan said.

Discussion will continue regarding the placement and logistics of security cameras, and Kelley said some of the talks will take place in executive sessions, which are not open to the public. There was no discussion of how the installation or maintenance of security cameras should be funded or how much it might cost.

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