Someone is blowing up toilets in city parks, Utah cops say

The city of St. George, Utah, is dealing with a messy and costly situation in park restrooms.

Since July 1, vandals have blown up or smashed 12 toilets in multiple parks around the city, Park Division Manager Shane Moore told McClatchy News. There have been a total of 20 incidents since the beginning of 2020, but they became more frequent in July, with at least one toilet getting vandalized each week since then.

The vandals seem to hit the same spots, which have been larger, community parks, Moore said. If they get hit on a Friday, people using the parks over the weekend won’t have access to the restroom because the city has to lock the doors until the damage can be repaired the following week, according to Moore.

It appears the vandals have used fireworks to blow up the toilets, he said. There are no leads on who the culprits are, but Moore suspects younger people may be to blame.

“Over the years we’ve had vandalism in parks and what happens usually is, as the neighborhood grows up a little bit — the kids in the neighborhood — the vandalism goes away,” Moore said. “It usually is teenagers; I would hope that it’s not adults.”

The toilets themselves cost $108 plus about $30 for plumbing repairs, according to Moore. The city has spent $2,000 to $3,000 replacing the toilets, he said.

“It’s money that could go into other things, that’s money we can’t use now to buy trees or to put in new drinking fountains or replace benches,” Moore said.

The St. George Police Department is investigating the incidents, Tiffany Atkins, a spokeswoman for the agency, told McClatchy News.

“We want people to stop this because it’s an expense that we all bear,” Atkins said. “It’s a waste of our employees’ time. We provide these great parks with nice restrooms and it’s just disrespectful.”

Atkins and Moore ask anyone with information to call the police department.