Art in the Park

These public works of art are the brainchild of Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Cory Allard and retired Sgt. Jason Kik, who received Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) training.

“Murals instill a sense of ownership,” says Allard. “It goes to show you it’s not just a blank wall on a building but somebody has taken the time to paint the wall that gives the impression who owns the building, cares about the building. They want to show the building off. Now you’re looking at a fixture, a mural, not a blank wall.

“The other thing it does is it beautifies the area,” adds Allard. “It builds a sense of community pride. Its biggest goal is to bring people into the area, to get people to want to see it. The way it reduces crime is, when you have people in the area, there’s less opportunity for crime to occur because people are around. You get people out and about, walking around. It kind of eliminates the opportunity for anything to happen.”