APS suffers record amount of vandalism

RECORD THAT A-P-S DOES NOT WANT TO HAVE SO FAR THIS SCHOOL YEAR VANDALISM AND THEFT COSTS HAVE REACHED WELL ABOVE A HALF- MILLION DOLLARS THAT BEATS LAST YEAR S ALL-TIME HIGH AND THERE S STILL MORE TO ADD UP JEFF MAHER IS LIVE NEAR ZUNI AND SAN MATEO TO EXPLAIN WHY SCHOOL OFFICIALS ARE NOW FACED WITH A DIFFERENT BREED OF VANDALS JEFF IN THE PAST A-P-S OFFICIALS WERE FACED WITH MAINLY JUST GRAFFITI AND BROKEN WINDOWS WHEN IT CAME TO VANDALISM CASES NOW THEY RE SEEING MORE DESPERATE AND SENSELESS CRIMES BEING CARRIED OUT THE LATEST TARGET - RIGHT HERE ON HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL S BRAND NEW TURF FOOTBALL FIELD KEVIN MCCONNELL AND NICK ARGUELLES ARE BOTH HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES THEY USE THE SCHOOL S NEW SYNTHETIC TURF FOOTBALL FIELD TO PLAY SOCCER BUT TODAY THEY FOUND OUT - PART OF THE FIELD HAD BEEN HIT BY VANDALS it s just pointless it s so silly they spend all this money for people to enjoy the field and then you go and ruin it A-P-S OFFICIALS SAY ON TUESDAY SOMEONE LIKELY USED A KNIFE TO CUT THROUGH THE TURF - REMOVING A CHUNK THAT S GOING TO COST MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS TO FIX THE NEW TURF IS PART OF A ONE- MILLION DOLLAR UPGRADE FOR THE SCHOOL S FIELD it s senseless you re just hurting yourself you re hurting your community why would you want to hurt your community it s stupid BUT HIGHLAND IS NOT ALONE NORTHSTAR ELEMENTARY WAS HIT BY VANDALS OVER THE WEEKEND - WHO DID SO MUCH DAMAGE INSIDE THIS AREA UNDER CONSTRUCTION - IT S GOING TO DELAY THE PROJECT BY A COUPLE OF WEEKS AND AT LEAST THREE HIGH SCHOOLS HAVE HAD PIECES OF ALUMINUM SEATING STOLEN FROM THE FOOTBALL FIELDS THE TOLL IS COSTLY - 575- THOUSAND DOLLARS SO FAR THIS SCHOOL YEAR COMPARED TO 517-THOUSAND DOLLARS LAST YEAR why people are doing it we don t know maybe because the economy is hurting - we don t know people just don t have a sense of morals they don t care what happens THE SCHOOL YEAR OFFICIALLY ENDS ON MONDAY A-P-S IS HOPING THEIR NEW SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY AND ADDED ALARMS WILL PREVENT VANDALISM IN THE FUTURE AND CATCH WHOEVER IS DOING IT LIVE IN SOUTHEAST ALBUQUERQUE JEFF MAHER EYEWITNESS NEWS FOUR WHAT FIRST APPEARED TO BE AN