Police: Swastika is hate speech

An offensive image placed by vandals last month on the football field at Lake City High School has been removed.

Gasoline or herbicide was used to burn letters, a swastika and a depiction of male genitalia into the grass on the field.

“A swastika is gross and unacceptable vandalism at Lake City High School. Maybe we need to remind people and students more about the evils of fascism, genocide, racism etc., and WWII history and the many tens of millions of lives that were lost due to the Nazis,” wrote school board trustee Tom Hearn on his Facebook page Thursday.

The damage to the field was first noticed in mid-June, said Coeur d’Alene Public Schools spokesman Scott Maben.

Maben said it was not immediately apparent what all the letters and symbols were, because it took time for the grass to die. Earlier this month, it became obvious that one of the markings was a swastika.

An official report was never filed with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Police Chief Lee White said Thursday that his department had no record of a call for service for this from Lake City High School going back to May, and the school resource officer, a Coeur d’Alene police officer, was unaware the vandalism included a swastika.

White said he knows there are some kids out there who might think vandalizing property with a swastika is funny.

“It isn’t. We take things like this very seriously. It crosses the line into something like hate speech,” White told The Press.

White said he assigned an officer to contact the school and make an official report.

“We will look to see if there is anything we can do to solve this, but with the time delay, it may be difficult,” White said.

Maben said that after the swastika became visible earlier this month, a specialist in turf restoration was brought in to assist with restoring the damaged grass, but repairs were difficult due to irrigation water interruptions related to construction going on at Lake City High this summer.

On Thursday, the offensive symbol was removed from the field in a process that included digging up the turf, removing it and reseeding the area.

School officials are reviewing their reporting procedures in place during the summer months, Maben said, to determine how the district office is to be notified of incidents like this.

“We also are reviewing our approach to removing offensive vandalism in a timely manner. In this case the mitigation measures didn’t work quickly enough, and we regret that the offensive symbol wasn’t removed sooner,” Maben said.

School district personnel are now communicating and collaborating with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department as the school system continues its own internal investigation, Maben said. Surveillance footage shows the vandalism occurred at night so the suspects could not be identified.

“If a student were found to be responsible for this vandalism, that student would be subject to our discipline policies, which could include suspension or expulsion,” Maben said.