Seymour police have a good idea as to who sliced several swimming pools in town earlier this summer. But whether they have enough information to make an arrest is another story.
The lining inside three swimming pools was sliced in early July on the town’s south end.
Another swimming pool was damaged in late July.
Seymour Police Chief Michael Metzler said police think a female from the Bridgeport-area is responsible for the first three pool slashings. Cops theorize the woman slashed the first pool in “retaliation” of some sort against the pool’s owners, Metzler told members of the Seymour Board of Selectmen during a meeting Tuesday.
The next two pool slashings may have been done by the same female, looking to make the first slashing seem less targeted.
The vandalism was part of an annoying series of criminal mischief incidents in Seymour this summer, including the theft of a new “Wildcat Way” sign at the high school.
Police received a total of 35 vandalism complaints in June, July and August, Metzler said.
The chief said criminal mischief generally falls into two categories — vandalism that is a targeted act of retribution or vandalism that stems from “malicious boredom.”
“We have a lot of malicious boredom,” Metzler said.
The chief said officers had Seymour High School under surveillance to catch people who were showing up in the middle of the night to deface the property with spray paint. It’s a roll of the dice as to whether you catch anyone, the chief indicated.
Two Seymour teens were arrested July 12 after allegedly being caught with burglar’s tools at Seymour High School in the middle of the night.
Metzler said the duo were on their way to “dig a grave on a neighbor’s yard as a joke.”
Metzler said the vandals are hard to catch because they’re committing the crimes in the dead of night. They run into the woods and hide whenever they see car headlights approaching.
“I don’t know what their parents are doing but these kids are out there doing this stuff all night long,” he said.
“There’s not much more we can do,” Metzler said. “We have it on roll call, they (officers) all know it’s out there and they’re keeping their eyes open at night.”
The chief said police also have an idea of the group responsible for vandalism in the area of Maple Street, South Main Street and Old Ansonia Road.
“Without evidence, without witnesses, it is very hard to solve those cases,” Metzler said.
The vandalism this summer included broken windows, damage to the high school, slashed car tires and damaged mailboxes.
Selectman Al Bruno asked whether there is anything his board could do to help the police department.
“I could cry for more manpower but you are beating a dead horse at this point,” Metzler said.
The chief said the fact the department does not have a school resource officer at the high school hurts investigations, because that officer could collect information about crimes from students in the school.
The chief said ideally he would like to have 41 officers in the ranks, which is three more than the department has at the moment.
