Moorhead neighborhood fed up with vandalism of political signs
One neighbor said that they've had all of their signs stolen three times over the last couple of weeks.
MOORHEAD, Minn. – A few weeks ago, neighbors on 19th Street North in Moorhead began putting up signs for their favorite Republican political candidates.
It didn’t take long for things to turn ugly.
“Pretty much as soon as they were put up, they started getting stolen, and now this is the first time there is an incident of graffiti on the signs, and some of it is pretty nasty,” said Ken Lucier, a concerned citizen who lives in the neighborhood.
One neighbor said that they’ve had all of their signs stolen three times over the last couple of weeks.
“Some of them feel like they can’t do anything about it, but my nature is to try and do something about it,” said Lucier
Even the neighbors we talked to who said they didn’t support the Republican party said that they want to see an end to the destruction.
“It seems to be escalating instead of diminishing,” said Lucier, “It doesn’t seem to be just some drunk college kid on a joyride wanting to do a sign. It’s probably going to continue until it stops and somebody might get hurt.”
The Moorhead Police department says that it’s not uncommon for signs to get stolen during the political season.
They also say that you should never confront anyone stealing a sign.
“Confronting them and causing yourself to go from a victim to a suspect is not the way we want to have it,” said Captain Deric Swenson, “Resorting to violence and threats can cause that person who is a victim of a misdemeanor theft or vandalism to become a suspect in something more serious.”
Political signs are considered personal property, and under Minnesota state law, stealing or vandalizing them is a misdemeanor.
“I think it’s important to have good dialogue, whether it’s political dialogue or not, but destroying peoples property is not good dialogue. It’s inflammatory, and it doesn’t make for changing peoples opinion or teaching people something,” said Lucier.
The neighborhood just has one message for the vandal or vandals:
“I’ll be happy to talk to you. You have a different opinion? Fine, everybody has an opinion. I have one as well, and I’d like to share it with you and listen to yours,” said Lucier.
Moorhead Police also say that if you do see somebody vandalizing or stealing a sign, to contact police with a good description of the person, and a description of their car and license plate numbers.
