Last summer, as Arlo was running around Ypsilanti’s Prospect Park, Linette noticed what she thought was adult feces on a sliding board. She called the Parks Department and reported it, and we thought that was the end of it. Apparently, though, it wasn’t an isolated incident. According to a story in yesterday’s Ann Arbor News, there have been several reports of feces being found on Prospect Park sliding boards over the past half year or so.
Given the current state of the American news media, the story, as you might expect, is getting traction nationally. So far, I’ve seen it picked up by about half a dozen or so media outlets, including the NBC affiliate in Chicago and the NY Daily News. And folks are having a lot of fun with it… “‘Poops!’ they did it again,” declares the headline in the Daily News.
According to what I’m hearing from folks in the Prospect Park neighborhood, though, we might want to cut the lighthearted nonsense and take this a little more seriously. Not only are we clearly dealing with a disturbed individual, but, as I understand it, there also may be a sexual component that isn’t being discussed in the press. In addition to finding feces on the sliding boards, it would seem there’s also evidence of someone having relations with the same play structure.
According to my source, he reported to the City a few years ago that what looked like lube and semen was dripping from a hole in the same play structure where Linette, last summer, found the feces. According to him, the City eventually sent out a crew to plug the hole, but it’s since been removed. (He believes that the hole in question has been plugged and unplugged several times over the past few years.)
Here are two images that were taken and sent to me today. According to the person that sent them, the once-again-unplugged hole looks “active,” and the goo coming from it looks “fresh.” (These are font and back images of the same hole.)
I know, with our ever dwindling number of police officers, we don’t have the resources to put someone full-time on play structure watch, but surely there’s something that came be done. And, yeah, maybe I’m overreacting, but I can’t help but think that, if someone is actively defecating on, and having sex with, children’s playground equipment, that he might be inclined to perform other, perhaps even more serious acts that would be unwelcome in our community. And, even if he weren’t inclined to escalate his activity, there’s a very real health risk as is.
According to the article in the Ann Arbor News, the police have attempted to catch the man on video, using a hidden camera. Clearly, however, it hasn’t worked. I’m thinking that it’s probably time for some technology-minded members of the local community to get involved, perhaps deploying a few wireless sensors and the like… If you should happen to have any ideas, send me a note.
I should note that I’d wanted to write about this in the past, but I held back, as I knew that the police were involved, and I didn’t want to let the perpetrator know that efforts were being made to apprehend him. As this is now in the national news, though, I didn’t see any reason not to post something. The Ann Arbor News, after all, has already reported that video surveillance has been attempted.
So, let’s move beyond all of the hilarious jokes about the “mystery pooper” and figure out a way to apprehend this person and get him the help that he needs before this becomes an even more serious issue.
[note: I’m assuming, of course, that the “mystery pooper” and the person ejaculating on the play structure are one in the same, but I suppose it could just be an unfortunate coincidence.]
78 Comments
I don’t understand why you and Ypsilanti aren’t more welcoming to sexual minorities.
My guess is that a man who wants to fuck and shit on children’s playground equipment is someone who, if given an opportunity, would do worse. We aren’t talking about someone with an unpopular fetish. This is someone who enjoys hurting others.
I may be oversimplifying here, but can DNA be picked up on the waste products??
Not that I have a problem with my kids playing in the poop and semen of the criminally insane, but I do long for the days when Ypsi was getting national attention for our philanthropic meat consumption.
From Tom Perkins of AnnArbor.com:
“Pete Murcock said he has encouraged staff and residents to contact him every time defecation is discovered so he can determine if there’s a pattern in regards to a schedule.”
Should we send biological samples to him as well, Bee?
Some people just have to let it go sometimes. Perhaps the City of Ypsilanti should consider installing more public toilets or even legalizing prostitution in the city.
I don’t appreciate people making light of this. We have someone in our community who apparently gets off having kids come in contact with his shit and cum. If we found murdered animals on the play structure, I have no doubt that we’d have a task force on it, and no one would be making jokes. I’d argue that this is no less troubling.
What really bothers me is that this play structure is used daily by the elementary right next to it for recess. The park is surrounded by residential property, too.
That slide is a slut.
Puritan.
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
And some of us breathe in the brown ground
Where the worms clown, where the worms clown, where the worms clown
Way down below in the sun belt
Everyday in the morning when you get up and you crawl out of bed
I’m not a huge proponent of surveillance culture, but I’d love to see a technological solution for this particular issue. I know that we have researchers in the greater Ann Arbor area working on distributed sensing systems, and I imagine this would be an ideal, real-world test for such a system. As I mentioned in the post, if you should have any ideas toward that end, please let me know.
DNA would only be good if the guy doing it were in a database already.
I think the only way to catch the culprit is via an actual stakeout. If you set up a wireless sensor and it just notified the police they would have to send someone over which would take time, and the guy could be gone at that point.
How do you know they are the same guy?
I like the idea that it’s two separate men. Let’s hope that it is. Let’s hope that that they meet one night, one pooping, one ejaculating, fall in love, and never engage in anti-social behavior again.
Concerning the use of wireless sensors, they wouldn’t have to just notify the police. They could also notify everyone living within a two block radius, sending a text message or something.
I’m envisioning a motion sensor that’s on a timer, so that people know whenever an adult climbs onto the structure between midnight and 5:00 AM, or whatever. I’d also suggest the use of better video equipment, perhaps streaming live over a private network, so that neighbors can monitor the activity.
My guess, however, is that, with the recent coverage, the man in question will move on and find another way to satisfy his obsession. I’d suggest that everyone be vigilant, especially at other local playgrounds.
I’m interested that some of this blog’s readers are so enthusiastic about technological surveillance now.
Peter, it sounds like you’re suggesting that nothing be done. Is that correct?
I appreciate that your self appointed role on this site is to poke people in the eye and stir shit up, Peter, but you know as well as I do that no one is calling for permanent, ubiquitous surveillance. This is a discussion about using technology to solve one specific problem.
This is awesome. Willing to give up privacy over someone shitting on a slide. Not suggested at all when open murders occur elsewhere in the city.
I would assume that the cameras might be easy to put up, but difficult to take down once it’s in everyone’s head that there are potential slide shitters to be found everywhere.
I’m not trying to stir shit up. I just find it interesting that people who seem to otherwise oppose surveillance would be so enthusiastic about it given certain conditions.
“you know as well as I do that no one is calling for permanent, ubiquitous surveillance. This is a discussion about using technology to solve one specific problem.”
Is it? While the scale is hardly the same, I’m guessing that the NSA said the same thing while developing surveillance programs following 9/11.
There are already at least two cameras trained on the playground equipment at Prospect Park.
I’d like to see this guy get caught, but I have mixed feelings about the cameras. In any case, I feel strongly that once this person is caught and/or these events are over, the cameras should come down immediately.
But that’s the problem, who decides when it’s “over” or that simply catching this person or persons is sufficient justification for ending a surveillance program?
I seem to recall a case a while back where a nurse at U-M hospital was suspected of stealing paid meds from patients, including some who were dying. Cameras placed in certain patients’ rooms were instrumental in catching this person, and ending the abuse.
In general, I’m very much against the wide-scale use of surveillance by law enforcement, but I can imagine certain cases where it might be warranted in very specific cases. Perhaps this is too idealistic — but perhaps the time has come to consider establishing something akin to a “search warrant” for such activities that spells out why the camera is needed, how long it would be operating, who would be monitoring it, etc.
“This is awesome. Willing to give up privacy over someone shitting on a slide. Not suggested at all when open murders occur elsewhere in the city.”
The difference is we know the exact location where this is taking place. We know the play structure which is being shat on and fucked. In the case of other violence in the city, we have no idea where it will take place, other than to say, “There’s a good chance that violent activity may take place in the vicinity of Leforge.” That’s a significant difference, and I believe that’s what Mark was getting at when he said that our police are needed elsewhere. No one is arguing that we should shift our attention away from other problem areas. People are merely saying we should explore technological solutions in instances
where constant police surveillance isn’t an option.
The best exchange you’ll see all day on this subject.
http://imgur.com/0Yv9Ujn
We already live in the most sophisticated surveillence state to ever be conceived by white men, a couple more cameras on this playground is not going to be the difference between liberty and a police state…its already a dystopian police state, one which would make Orwell blanch. On the matter of perversion, just statistically there is one true sociopath per 50 typically developing people (with socially acceptable levels of perversion). Sexual deviants pepper the suburbs, this could be a whole team of unrelated people. In a landmark study of perversion documented in the excellent Semiotext(e) book “Overexposed; perverting perversion” a cognitive-behavioralist clinician said something like “between the hours of 9 to 5 no-one is a pervert, but after 5, anyone can be.” This person or persons’ point of erotic reference could just be the transgression of soiling children’s play equipment, they may not be more involved with darker perversion.
Yes, while the public health implications of public defecation are to be considered and I am in no way defending such behavior. there is no evidence as of yet that this individual (or individuals) has/have harmed a single child directly.
There is also no evidence that the person who ejaculated on the playground equipment is the same individual who defecated on the slide, or even, for that matter, that a single individual has been responsible for all incidents of either.
Personally, I think having a small child predisposes one to reactionary behavior and muddled thinking, but that is a conversation for another space.
I’m interested in how this issue will play out in the future. In so many ways, Ypsilanti is a tiny microcosm of the entire country.
“Reactionary behavior”?
Are you reading the same article, Peter Larson. It’s been two years of this person shooting jizz and shitting where kids will come in contact with it.
What’s your address? I have a little experiment that I’d like to run in the tiny microcosm of your front yard. I think you’ll find it fascinating.
Interesting.
The tone of your comment supports my assertion that having small children predisposes one to reactionary thinking and, perhaps, even thoughts of violence.
Schoolcraft College had a similar problem a couple of years ago. They could be the same person.
Don’t worry. I have a condition which makes it impossible for me to poop or ejaculate outside of my home. I do, however, think your tune would change if you found shit and jizz where your kids play.
No, it would not. I’d probably just find somewhere else for my kids to play.
Citizens cannot be trusted to implement a surveillance program.
So, as a public health professional, your advice is to ignore feces and semen on playground equipment outside of a school?
No, my advice is to hire someone to sit at the park at night.
A little amature Lacanian psychoanalysis sounds in order… the perverse structure in question is one of ‘jouissance’ or excessive pleasure beyond the so called “pleasure principle”, situated within the ‘death drive’. Perversion works as a disavowal, the perverse subject perceives the ‘castration’ (the father’s injunction against the desire to enjoy the mother), sensing the mother’s lack of phallus (object of the mother’s desire; the father) but disavows this knowledge. The perverse subject makes of himself the ‘jouissance’ of the big Other, the fetishized playground in this instance is the symbolic substitute for the phallus of the mother. In this instance the playground acts as a veil to protect the perverse subject from the confrontation with this ‘object petit a’, the subject of his unconcious desire, the mother’s phallus. If it is all the same person, Lacan would say he is engaged in “the perversion of perversions”, and probably dangerous.
So you are in favor of surveillance in this instance. You would just rather have a human than a camera. Is that correct?
I think that several of these pseudonyms are the same person
No, I’m pretty sure that the persons defecating, etc. want to do so in private. A person, paid or volunteer, simply sitting in the park could help prevent these incidents from happening at all. This would be preferable to me. A person visibly present would be less intrusive.
I found this, though Mr. Maynard position on the issue is somewhat vague. He seems to be against it in that EOS is for it, but for it otherwise. It’s hard to say. :
http://markmaynard.com/2011/04/policing-by-video-in-ypsilanti-township/
A concerned citizen or three at night with a flashlight is probably the lowest cost, least invasive protocol here to ward off the perverse subject. However, if this tact is successful, the perverse subject will be barred from the object of his erotic fixation, but it will not bar him from the perverse structure of his erotic phantesy. This will make it such that the perverse subject is forced to transfer his libidinal cathexis into other perverse/dangerous behaviors, which may include molestation or sexual murder. If this is the case, in order to catch the perverse subject as opposed to just warding him off, hidden surveillance is probably the way to actually remove the threat.
Pittsfield has (or soon will have) followed Ypsi Twp’s lead, and approved the installation of surveillance cameras in a number of their public parks. I believe they cited mostly issues with vandalism and graffiti, but also mentioned urinating and other sexual offenses.
Did the City Council have to approve the use of these cameras in the pooper case?
The only thing this discussion has taught me is this….
I can read and write 6 different programming languages, yet I cannot even come close to ever understanding what Thom Elliot is saying. Put down the thesaurus.
Whoever is doing this needs to be stopped, and I don’t think it’s realistic to think that we can guard this one play structure from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM every day. We don’t have the police officers to do it, and I don’t believe that individuals will stand outside all night, for hours on end, in hopes of catching him. That leaves us with two options. We can accept it, and tell our kids to play elsewhere, or we can try more creative solutions.
Thom,
Burt makes a good point. You would communicate more effectively with the readers of this blog if you chose a vocabulary that is likely to be understood by the majority. Most people would readily agree with you if you wrote more simply.
Burt,
I can translate for you. A person with a flashlight would be able to keep the pooper away from the play structure. But the forces that drive him to poop on the slide may, when he is blocked from getting to the slide, compel him to engage in a more destructive activity, such as sexual assault or murder. Therefore, it would be better to catch him with a camera and get treatment for him then to block him from his intended activity and cause him to do something worse before he is caught.
I just assumed this was all just a new piece by Patrick Elkins.
As for his earlier post – not a clue. Sorry.
Ypsi is so much more poo- gressive than Ann Arbor.
Perverse Prospect Park pooper prevents preschool pupils from participatory playground programs. Police need to pop the perverted pooper to prevent promotion of particular propensities prior to perpetuation of more preposterous pranks.
It’s funny what ends up being controversial on this site. I never would have thought that a post about catching a serial ejaculator would get people riled up. As for my position, I don’t see it as being inconsistent with my belief that ubiquitous surveillance is wrong. One, in my opinion, can both be against the pervasive monitoring of U.S. citizens, and for the limited use of technology to catch a known perpetrator who is endangering the lives of children. I’m sorry if some of you are having trouble discerning the difference between the two.
It is quite simple EOS & Burt, a disordered event in the pre-oedipal triangle is essential to creating perverse structures in ego formation. The neurotic differs from the pervert in that the neurotic understands and is in conflict with the ‘Name-of-the-Father’ or the Law itself, whereas the pervert disavows the Law. The Law refers to the internalized laws governing social relations, beginning with the father ‘castrating’ the child (the Freudian “pleasure principle”, perversion is thus ‘beyond’ the pleasure principle). The perverse subject disavows (does not accept) the reality of his ‘castration’, and finds a symbolic substitute for the mother’s imaginary phallus (object of her desire)…in this instance either the fetishized playplace itself or the transgression of soiling a playplace.
Again, no fucking idea.
…this is Lacanian psychoanalysis Burt, Lacan was the greatest interpreter of Freud, who I have been studying. My posts today have been discussing Lacan’s deconstruction of fetishized perversion, and what forces and drives underlie this mysterious and disturbing behavior. I thought it would be a fun way of talking about Ypsilanti’s serial masterbator, and why simply scaring him off from the playplace may actually be bad. Sorry if you cant make heads or tails of it, read some late Freud, then some Lacan. Everyone should be reading Lacan.
Thom,
Interesting comments. I think you might be onto something here…
I am trying to imagine the logic of these acts and the symbolism after you suggested that there might be some sort Oedipal revenge happening here: The play structure is the mother. The tube slide is the birth canal. The fathers stand at the bottom of the slide and they wait for their child to drop out. The young fathers/ husbands are not in a sexual relation to the vagina at the time of delivery because the fathers receive an unpleasant surprise when the poop smeared child drops out (revenge against the father). Plus the pooper gets the satisfaction of knowing that he had sex with the mother’s other hole the night before (revenge against the father).
Are you reading this act along those lines?
Whoever is pooping on the slide and perhaps masturbating into the play structure must be getting some perverse enjoyment out of it. It is likely, in my opinion, that the person doing the pooping is hanging out around the slide/ play structure during the day….waiting for the next victim/ bit of revenge….Fascinating stuff! Whoever is doing this needs help for sure!
Thanks again for commenting on this subject Thom. Any other theories would be appreciated…
why not just get rid of the slide. All the fun slides in the city have been taken down because of liability issues, and all we’re left with are these stupid chute slides which are hardly any fun at all
There is no evidence that a single person is responsible for all of the defecation incidents and also no evidence that the same persons are responsible for the ejaculate. There is also zero evidence that the persons who might be responsible for this have harmed children directly (though that won’t stop the rope from being dangled from a tree).
I’m impressed and somewhat saddened that Mark doesn’t see how citizens placing cameras in a tax payer funded park to “catch the bad guys” without careful consideration of legalities and limits is exactly the same as an NSA program which monitors all people indiscriminately to “catch the bad guys.”
Certainly, the scale is different but the basic problems and dangers are exactly the same.
So now will police have to run to the park every time someone walks into it at night? Will black people caught on camera hanging out at the park be subject to extra scrutiny? Homeless people? These programs rarely work out well for the lowest rungs of society on any scale.
It’s clear that many people (not all) in Ypsi don’t find poor people welcome (as evidenced on this site). A camera in a park might make them feel better.
If you don’t like the park, don’t take your kids there. If you think the park is really important, start a neighborhood program to spend the night there in shifts.
Lost in this fascinating discussion is why the hole is there in the first place. It’s for a steering wheel. Either replace the missing wheel, which likely comes with tamper resistant hardware, or replace that panel with one that is solid in that area. These things are modular. Maybe the poop will stop appearing as well.
“It’s clear that many people (not all) in Ypsi don’t find poor people welcome.”
I’m missing the connection here, Peter Larson. Are you suggesting that it’s poor people who are pooping and cumming on the Prospect Park play structure, and that we wouldn’t be upset if it were the work of a rich homeowners?
I’m still wondering if and when the Ypsi city council voted to allow this remote surveillance of the park. Both Ypsi Twp and Pittsfield Twp had to vote to approve using such measures to “police” their public areas.
Likely, they didn’t vote at all, though it’s my opinion that the issue has to be put up to public debate and subject to legal scrutiny.
In response to Ms/r. anonymous:
“I’m missing the connection here, Peter Larson. Are you suggesting that it’s poor people who are pooping and cumming on the Prospect Park play structure, and that we wouldn’t be upset if it were the work of a rich homeowners?”
No, what I’m saying is that hostility toward the poor can justify state-sponsored actions against them. While Glen offered that the camera should be taken down after finding the culprit (assuming there is only one, there is no evidence for this), my guess is that there are some people who would want them to remain, and would be happy to use them to see that poorest and homeless excluded from public spaces.
Of possible interest:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/are_public_surveillance_camera.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/ypsilanti_township_to_explore.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/privacy_policy_set_as_public_s.html
http://www.storyleak.com/michigan-township-put-cameras-every-neighborhood/
I’m surprised Mark is so enthusiastic about this type of program. He normally bills himself as being against this sort of thing. Good to know that everyone has their tipping point.
this should go over well.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/04/report_billboard_seeks_to_flus.html
I’m no PR expert but maybe the electronic billboard on a major national highway is not a great move. No pun intended.
Is is the practice of Adams Outdoor Advertising to shit on the communities where they do business?
From the Ann Arbor News:
The effort to spread awareness and get the scoop on the so-called mystery pooper in Ypsilanti has irritated city officials working to catch the culprit.
Adams Outdoor Advertising owns the digital billboard on Interstate 94 near the South Huron Street exit that has been displaying three messages since Thursday afternoon encouraging to public to push the defecating delinquent from their midst.
General manager Todd McWilliams said his company took the initiative to design and post the signs after an employee saw a news report about the mystery pooper and brought it up in the office.
“The goal would be that someone would call the police if they know, or to at least scare the person into stopping,” McWilliams said.
Ypsilanti City Manager Ralph Lange said that the company did not consult with anyone from city administration before posting the billboards.
“We’re not authorizing it and we don’t need it,” Lange said.
“We have a person of interest in the case, it’s an ongoing investigation and we’re closing in on that individual.”
City and police officials recently expressed concern about repeated instances of feces being left on a children’s slide at Prospect Park. Officials have discovered feces on the slide so frequently that police installed a hidden camera to try to capture an image of the act.
McWilliams said that his company regularly works with local and national authorities to help solve crimes where the public’s input is wanted.
From the Police Department on the Prospect Park Pooper
Date: 04/18/2014
The Ypsilanti Police Department continues to investigate the health & safety issue of the defecator in Prospect Park. We are investigating a person of interest possibly involved in these incidents. We will be not be providing any further information, as the case is still open and active. Any information relative to the case can be directly forwarded to us here at the police department. Thank you for your cooperation.
Lt.Deric Gress
Ypsilanti Police Dept
Does anyone else think that the word “pooper” is infantile?
Peter, would you prefer “The Shitter?”
The Shitter’s full…of preconceived images
It would actually be preferable.
At least it doesn’t sounds like a room full of adults trying not to say “bad words” in front of a 3 year old.
Copy cat pooper?
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/05/08/houston-authorities-searching-for-serial-defecator/
Yeah I’m just dropping this everywhere.
https://blackjakeandthecarnies.bandcamp.com/track/poopslider
Will the police not tell us who this person is? And why were no charges brought?
Read more:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/05/police_nab_mystery_pooper_who.html
Word is that no charges will be filed because it was someone living in a nearby halfway house that was shitting on the slide. It would appear that the cops caught him, told him never to do it again, and that he hasn’t. I’m as compassionate as the next person, but it seems like something more might be required.
Apparently it is a mentally disabled person at a nearby GROUP home, not a so called half way house.
I don’t care who it is. If you’re shitting on and fucking a play structure, you should lose your living in society privileges.
Might want to think about who orchestrated this story? Is there something in the pipeline for doing something with Halfway houses or something like that? Is there an amount of money that is allocated for houses like this? Is somebody looking to cut the funding for disabled unfortunate people? Maybe, but we don’t own the airways and media, we are just the living people, bummer.
Hmmmmmmm?
Sorry Mark, I meant Robert Davis
Bill Boards go up, national attention? Come on man, WTF!!!??? Big picture, ugggghhhh, we are just low down.
2 Trackbacks
[…] feeling pretty good about themselves. Unfortunately, though, we’ve still got a local deviant shitting on, and possibly fucking, a play structure outside a local elementary school. And, as hilarious as some people might find the thought of children playing in the feces and […]
[…] and I’d encourage you to listen to it. We cover all of their favorite Ypsi stories, from the Ypsi Pooper to raccoon infested houses. One of them also says that, quite often, she felt better informed on […]