PLAINFIELD - A rash of recent vandalism incidents – as well as fears of future mischief – has led Plainfield officials to move toward adding more than a dozen surveillance cameras at two public properties.

Late last month, vandals defaced a newly refurbished M60A3 tank inside Veterans Park in Moosup overlooking Route 14. Soon after, the concession building at the Plainfield Little League field on Park Avenue was also spray-painted twice over a period of two days, First Selectman Kevin Cunningham said.

“Then, on July 4, someone set off fireworks on the Moosup Little League field basketball court causing damage to a surface that we just repainted,” he said. “We get calls all the time that x, y and z areas have been damaged.”

The town plans to install eight new cameras at Veterans Park and another eight at the highway garage on Unity Drive in Moosup to deter future incidents. Cunningham said while there have not so far been any criminal occurrences at the garage, he’s not prepared to take any chances.

“They store gas at that site and I worry with fuel prices the way they are, that someone might think it’s worth going in there,” he said. “It’s about protecting our investment of equipment.”

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The 16 cameras will cost $10,000, not including installation.

“And that’s been an issue,” Cunningham said. “I’ve reached out to four different installation companies and only one has called me back. For whatever reason, these companies don’t want to do the installation work.”

Cunningham said the town recently donated cameras to the Plainfield Little League, though they’ve not yet been hooked up to the Moosup field. He said he hopes the Plainfield Little League will cover the cost of adding cameras to its Park Avenue complex.

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The incoming cameras are live-feed models with a 30-day playback component that will be monitored by Cunningham, police and highway department officials, all who will have the ability to view footage on their mobile devices.

Currently, the only municipal camera systems in use are the nine ringing town hall, a singe device at the town garage and those at police headquarters. The funding for the new cameras will be pulled from the town’s contingency account and installation is slated to begin within the next couple of weeks.

Cunningham said the vandalism at the veterans’ memorial consisted of white paint sprayed above the treads of the decommissioned tank on June 22. Earlier this year, members of the Massachusetts-based Abrams Company-4th Battalion, Burt’s Knights U.S. Army Brotherhood of Tankers’ group cleaned and repainted the tank, like they did with a Moosup model near town hall.

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“The morning after the vandalism, I sent pictures of the damage to the group and within hours a member was here using an adhesive to remove the paint,” Cunningham said. “We’re ready to repaint it now.”

Police Chief Mario Arriaga said incidents like those at the parks have spiked lately. He said the combination of warm weather and the lack of COVID-19 gathering restrictions have meant an increase in noise complaints, parties and “all-out brawls” throughout town for the first time in two years.

“We’ve increased our patrol checks ten-fold and most of the incidents seem to involve juveniles, though there are no signs of them being connected,” he said.

Arriaga said while cameras are helpful, one challenge will be monitoring.

“Most of these incidents take place late at night or very earlier in the morning and there’s not a way we can monitor those cameras live 24-7,” he said. “It really depends on who’s doing the damage. Your casual criminal, if aware of a camera, typically won’t do something in that area.”

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Cunningham said he’s not prepared to be lenient with suspects.

“I would want them prosecuted fully,” he said. “Just like we did a year ago when our town hall cameras caught three kids after they’d tagged a park gazebo.”

John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965.