COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus police are asking for the public’s help in trying to find out who is responsible for dozens of instances of white supremacist vandalism downtown earlier this week.
“Despicable” is the word Columbus Police Department spokesman Lt. Matt Harris used to describe the more than two dozen stickers, spray painted messages and other vandalism with messages such as “white unity every opportunity” and “white youth in revolt”. The vandalism was promptly covered over or removed, officials said.
Community leaders on Thursday said they were looking into the vandalism while also mindful of not giving publicity to the racist and sometimes violent groups behind the messaging, who seek to use it as a recruitment tool.
Harris said CPD is hoping downtown property owners and residents with security camera footage or who may have seen suspicious activity will report it, so that it will enhance what police already know from security video from city-owned cameras in the area, primarily in the downtown core along Washington Street.
A CPD detective has been assigned to investigate the rash of vandalism that appeared between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, Harris said. He said a passerby noticed the vandalism and contacted the office of Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, who referred the matter to police, notified the city human relations commission and dispatched public works crews to remove the stickers and paint over public property that was defaced.
Leinhoop said he appreciated a prompt report so that the divisive vandalism could be removed. “We continue to be disappointed when we see these things,” he said. “It’s just not a part of what we want to do here in Columbus, and when it does raise its head, we chase it down” and erase such messages.
“On the one hand, we need to acknowledge things like this happen and there are people out there who espouse these beliefs,” Lienhoop said. “On the other hand, we’re always chagrined to give them any publicity because that’s what they’re seeking.”
Lienhoop also asked for the public’s help in furnishing video or tips to Columbus police. “There are cameras everywhere, particularly in the downtown area,” he said, and more information from the public will “give us an opportunity to do a little investigation and hopefully that will lead us to the source.”
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
