Vandalism costs the community enormous sums of money every year, whether it’s drunks smashing shop windows or kids spray-painting their “tags” on everything from railway bridges to the new NBN cabinets dotted around our community.

The culprits, if caught, usually come up with their empty plea of being bored because nothing is provided for them to do. It’s a lame excuse borne out of a lack of respect and a failure to take responsibility.

Eventually many of these small-time crooks manage to sort their lives out and put this sort of behaviour behind them, only to have a new generation take their place.

And then sometimes there are instances of vandalism that take this disrespect to another level.

That is what has happened, yet again, at Albury’s Pioneer Cemetery.

This time nine headstones were smashed, something Albury policeman Superintendent Evan Quarmby quite rightly labelled “a despicable act”.

As he says: “These are the sorts of people who just don’t care about the community they live in and the history that made Albury a great community.”

The disrespect shown is on so many levels. Firstly, there is the complete disregard for the people laid to rest below each gravestone, as well as their families and their descendants.

This kind of vandalism also shows a complete failure to consider the historical aspect of the gravestones, telling as these do the stories of how the Albury area came to be settled in the first place.

It is extraordinary that this can be so blithely put aside in the interest of a cheap thrill, one that Albury mayor Kevin Mack goes as far as to describe as a “hate crime”.

But this is not too severe a description for the damage done.

And it is unfortunate that the damage might ultimately result in Albury Council having to investigate the possibility of installing CCTV cameras at the cemetery.

While this would greatly assist in detecting these offenders and getting them before the courts, as well as acting as a deterrent, it is nevertheless a sad day that such steps have to be considered.

Until then we all can do our bit to catch these numbskulls by immediately reporting any suspicious activity to the police.