Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: January 15, 2009
Sen. David Myers
Myers Files Legislation to Increase Penalty
for Vandalism of County Property
Counties spend thousands of dollars each year replacing
and repairing vandalized signs and other property. To help deter
vandals and assist county governments in their efforts to address
this type of crime, State Sen. David
Myers has authored Senate Bill 348.
“Our counties have enough responsibilities and worries,
they don’t need any more. It’s so frustrating that
we even have to make laws to help combat such juvenile behavior
as shooting signs and spraying equipment, but we do,” said
Myers, R-Ponca City. “Hopefully, by increasing the penalty
for such crimes as well as providing higher rewards, we’ll
be able to deter this type of vandalism.”
Under current law, county commissioner boards are authorized by
the state to offer and pay up to $100 as a reward for the arrest
and conviction, or for evidence leading to the arrest and conviction
of any person stealing or defacing county road signs. SB 348 would
add all other county property to the list along with increasing
the allowed reward amount to $1,000. The county commissioner boards’
allowed amount for their reward funds would also be increased
from $500 to $2,000.
“This isn’t something that’s just taking place
in certain areas – it’s happening all over the state.
All of my county commissioners have talked to me about these problems,”
said Myers. “What’s scary is I don’t think the
people committing these crimes realize how dangerous it is. They
don’t think about how it affects others, but just one example
is that our 911 dispatchers use signs to direct emergency personnel
to where they need to be. If those signs aren’t there it
takes longer for people to get the help they need, and depending
on the situation just a few minutes can mean the difference between
life and death.”
The measure was requested by the Oklahoma Association of County
Commissioners. The idea for the legislation came from Grant County
Commissioner for District 2, Cindy Bobbitt who says vandalism
has cost the county tens of thousands of dollars since she got
into office four years ago.
“Given how strapped Oklahoma’s counties are, this
is a financial issue, but more importantly it is a safety issue,”
said Bobbitt. “We’re aren’t just dealing with
juvenile pranks, we’re dealing with vandalism that can have
severe and even deadly consequences like the stealing of stop
signs and the tampering of brakes on county vehicles.”
Bobbitt said the most common types of vandalism include the shooting
of signs which ruins their reflectivity, stealing signs for personal
use or recycling, and spray painting and damaging equipment and
vehicles on worksites.
“When counties are continually paying to repair and replace
their signs and equipment, it hurts every taxpayer because the
counties are state funded,” said Myers. “Hopefully,
this bill will encourage citizens to be more vigilant of what’s
going on in their community and the surrounding area, but will
also stop the problem at the source by detouring individuals from
committing such crime.”
