Gary beefs up Marquette Park Pavilion security

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A motion detetor sensor is among the security features now in place at the Marquette Park Pavilion after vandals damaged the restoration project in the Miller section of Gary, Ind. Wednesday January 25, 2012. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:24AM

GARY — Thieves or vandals considering breaking into the Marquette Park Pavilion again will have to get around extra security measures.

City officials declined to offer much detail, but sources inside the project to rehab the more than 80-year-old pavilion said there now are motion sensors and a silent alarm system connected to Gary police, city officials and project managers.

There also are manned security officers patrolling the area during off-work hours and 24 hours a day on weekends, said the sources, who asked that their names be withheld.

The security measures came soon after newly elected Mayor Karen Freeman-Williams promised to protect the park and pavilion, workers on the site said.

Communications Director Chelsea Whittington and Planning Director Dwayne Williams said they did not want to offer any more information for fear criminals may try to work around the systems.

Williams said the project’s general contractors “are taking care of (security),” adding he did not expect the city to have to pay for any of the measures.

Inside the building, motion sensors were visible in strategic locations.

Late last month, vandals broke into the building, the centerpiece of the $28.4 million makeover of Marquette Park, funded by the Regional Development Authority. The suspects stole copper, with a value estimated by one source as “into the thousands of dollars,” and industrial tools from contractors’ metal gang boxes.

They also set several fires throughout the building, leaving a layer of soot and ash covering most of the surfaces in the building, and spray-painted messages on walls.

“It was personal,” said one source. “They were sending a message.”

The December incident was the third one at the site. In mid-April 2011, thieves stole industrial tools from the work site, and in September, they broke into and robbed the pavilion.

Immediately after the December break-in, former city Planning Director Christopher Meyers said security plans were made, but no systems had yet been fully installed.

Meyers later said the security system would send alerts to a number of parties involved in responding to any alarms.