The latest meeting of the Benson Park Advisory Committee saw its members address a possible act of vandalism and trespassing at the old train station.
“We had a break-in at the train station!” said Committee Chair Jack Madden, who outlined how one of the station’s doors had been kicked in. “Somebody kicked it hard enough so that they pulled the nails off of the board and got in.”
While the June 8 incident was promptly reported to the Hudson Police Department, there were no suspects. It was unclear what actions the advisory committee could take beyond acting to prevent future burglaries.
“Because of the fact that there were no ‘No Trespassing’ signs, even if the police caught anybody, there’s no crime they can charge them with,” said Madden. “We can put those on the boards, but we’d have to go through the DPW, and you’d have to get the Board of Selectmen to approve it.”
Despite the red tape, committee member Sue Clement suggested starting the process by adding signs to park property.
“Maybe we’ll do that for all of our things at this point,” she said. “If you want, I’ll contact DPW about getting the signs.”
The advisory committee agreed to start with ‘No Trespassing’ signs.
Other suggestions included the installation of motion-activated lights and cameras to deter future break-ins. Currently, the Elephant Barn uses motion-activated lights to apparent success. Benson Park’s Old Woman in the Shoe display, which suffered extensive vandalism before its refurbishment, uses motion-activated cameras.
“The problem with cameras is that while the station has power, we don’t have Wi-Fi. You need Wi-Fi to interact with the cameras,” said Madden. “Images go to a cell phone when something activates.”
Natalie Newell from the Friends of Benson Park recommended using a Wi-Fi extender for a camera.
“We have one in the corner of the Barn, almost up to the ceiling in the back, and that reaches out to the Shoe,” said Newell.
Damage from the break-in was largely repaired without further incident as Madden worked to reinforce the building against similar damage in the future.
“I went back last Wednesday and did some re-bracing inside. If somebody’s going to try to break in again, they’re going to have to do a little bit of work,” he said. “We should look at the possibility of either changing the code for the padlock if we can, I need to find out how to do that and contact the company. I’ve been here nine years and that code has been the same all along, a lot of people have it.”
Sadly, recent acts of vandalism across Benson Park were not limited to the train station, with a separate report of graffiti in the family restroom.
“It was probably there for a while,” said Madden. “I’ll report this. I can mention the police officer we mentioned the break-in to. I’m not going to file a report because it’s small beans, but you don’t want to allow this stuff to continue.”
The graffiti was relatively minor, and there were no reports of other damage to any restroom facilities. Clement offered to paint over or help wash off the graffiti in the near future.
The Benson Park Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, July 17, at 7 p.m. in the HCTV Conference Room.
