Anti-Islamic graffiti found on stop signs in Deer Park
The word “Islam” was painted beneath the word “STOP” on several traffic signs along Lawrence Road, Grand Boulevard and Carto Circle, an area near the Islamic Center of Deer Park.
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Police are investigating after anti-Islamic graffiti appeared on multiple stop signs in a Deer Park neighborhood.
The word “Islam” was painted beneath the word “STOP” on several traffic signs along Lawrence Road, Grand Boulevard and Carto Circle, an area near the Islamic Center of Deer Park.
“It was disgusting to see this,” said a woman who first spotted the graffiti and contacted police. She asked not to be identified or appear on camera.
The woman said that after the Town of Babylon removed some of the graffiti. It reappeared again in new locations.
“Today in the morning, we saw two of them got rewritten in a different spot on the stop signs, and then we informed the police again,” she said.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said the case has been assigned to the department’s hate crimes unit.
“Obviously, it’s a priority,” Catalina said. “We had nine stop signs that were vandalized.”
Town crews have since cleaned the defaced signs again. Officials are asking residents to report graffiti as soon as possible so it can be removed quickly.
Residents in the neighborhood say the vandalism is troubling and does not reflect the community’s values.
“We’re all trying to live here, we’re all trying to be good neighbors,” said Deer Park resident Todd Singleton. “We want our children to grow up healthy and safe. We don’t need this hatred here.”
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement that such incidents “contribute to a climate of hostility and fear for Muslim residents.”
