Two Town of Hempstead parks were found with swastikas graffitied in them between Thursday evening and Friday morning.
The first swastika was found painted on a wall in Franklin Square’s Rath Park on Thursday evening around 6 p.m., according to Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin.
Clavin said the second was found Friday morning in North Baldwin’s Coes Neck Park, arranged in tiles in a children’s game in the park’s playground. Clavin said park workers reported both swastikas.
The Nassau County Police Department is conducting an ongoing investigation into the incidents.
The police are investigating the incidents as hate crimes and will turn the case over to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly for prosecution after they conclude their investigation, he added.
It is unclear whether the incidents are connected.
“It’s very unsettling,” Clavin said. “The Town of Hempstead is the second largest grouping of Jewish residents in the nation. We want the residents to know that we are outraged. We’re taking action.”
Along with Donnelly and Hempstead’s Quality of Life Task Force, Clavin painted over the swastika in Rath Park Friday afternoon. The children’s tiles have been reconfigured to remove the image in Coes Neck Park’s playground.
“I am deeply disturbed that antisemitic graffiti was found at Franklin SquareR’s Rath Park and Baldwin’s Coes Neck Park, and I unequivocally condemn these despicable acts of hate. Antisemitism has no place in Nassau County,” U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen, whose district includes Hempstead, said in a Friday statement. “It is especially upsetting to see these bigoted acts of vandalism carried out at popular parks used by children and other community members. I will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Long Island’s Jewish community.”
Clavin said the surrounding community has been helpful in the investigation so far, with some residents near the park allowing the police to use footage from their doorbell or house security cameras to see if any suspicious activity was picked up on them.
“It’s really sickening and troubling that this is taking place,” he said. “But, I am happy that people are coming together to hold them accountable.”
Legislator Seth Koslow, who represents Freeport and Merrick in Hempstead, called on Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder to immediately increase police patrols at Hempstead parks in response to the antisemitic acts in order to deter additional incidents.
“Prosecuting the perpetrators of these heinous acts to the fullest extent of the law and increasing police patrols at parks within the Town of Hempstead will send a clear message that there will be zero tolerance for hate crimes anywhere in Nassau County,” Koslow said. “The fact that we have now been confronted with two incidents of antisemitic vandalism in a short period of time demands a forceful response.”
His request for more patrols referenced a similar incident that took place in a Merrick school playground about a year and a half ago.
Clavin said he advises the community to report any antisemitic, or other hateful graffiti, directly to the Nassau County Police Department.
“If somebody sees something like this, the natural instinct would be to want to just clean it up,” Clavin said. “But please, report it to the authorities, report it to a park employee, so we can start an investigation.”
