In what Chatham-Kent police are calling a “hate-motivated incident,” someone defaced picnic tables in Dresden with anti-gay messages recently.
Police received the call Aug. 22 about mischief in Stranak Park on Brown Street in Dresden.
Police say sometime between 3:30 p.m. that afternoon and 7 p.m. that evening, someone wrote derogatory messages directed towards the 2S LGBTQ+ community in red permanent marker on several picnic tables.
Police say they are investigating this mischief as a hate-motivated incident due to the nature of the messages.
Jamie McGrail, who along with Joe Faas, represents Dresden on municipal council, said this is not the only incident of vandalism in the community this summer.
“There have definitely been issues because of vandalism in general. We have alerted the police on these issues,” the Ward 4 councillor said.
Other occurrences have included the ripping out of plants from downtown displays, but McGrail said this one is particularly annoying.
“This incident – what happened in the park – there is nothing to be said about it. We can’t tolerate that,” she said. “This is not who Dresden is or who Chatham-Kent is. We won’t stand for it.
“I do hope someone had a video camera there and they come forward.”
Everyone in the area with surveillance cameras is asked to check their footage for possible evidence in relation to this incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Const. Doug Littlewood at douglasl@chatham-kent.ca. Anonymous callers may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) and may be eligible for a cash reward.
The messages have been scrubbed away, but the damage is done. Police say anyone impacted by this act of vandalism can reach out to Chatham-Kent Victim Services at 519-436-6630.
As to what should happen to the individuals responsible, McGrail said it’s changing values and understanding other principles that would matter most.
“We hope to find out who it is and then correct the behaviour,” she said. “Work with those people to hopefully ensure they understand the ways they went wrong on that and the many ways they could do better.”
McGrail said this is another case of a few bad apples in an otherwise great tree.
“That community is such a strong community, helping each other and working together to really make Dresden shine,” she said. “But because of the very few who do this, it is such a prominent thing. We need to keep working together to make this an inclusive community.”
Police said they take hate-motivated incidents seriously and will thoroughly investigate any report filed.
