Oxley police using CCTV in Carter Street sporting field vandalism investigation as Tamworth Regional Council works on repairs

Tamworth's community grounds and some carparks have been torn up in recent weeks by "idiots" sneaking onto the grass in their vehicles and running amok.

The damage comes at a prolonged and significant cost to residents and council, while police kick goals in their investigation to track offenders down.

"It's absolutely ludicrous, what has actually occurred," Peel Highway Patrol manager Inspector Kelly Wixx said.

"If you want to lose your car, if you want to lose your license, continue to do this because we will catch you."

Inspector Wixx warned culprits could not only be hit with a fine for burnouts, or be brought before the court for malicious damage, but they could also have to cough up for costly compensation claims for repairs.

Some offences can carry licence suspensions, car forfeitures and jail time.

"Not only are they putting themselves in danger by being behind the wheel, but if there are pedestrians around or other people looking on, it makes it an aggravated offence," Inspector Wixx said.

"This is very selfish behaviour and they're the kind of people we don't want on our roads, that we don't want in our community behind the wheel of a car."

Police have upped patrols in hotspot areas based on intelligence to put the brakes on any offending before it happens.

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Oxley commander Superintendent Kylie Endemi said a full investigation had been launched into last week's act of vandalism at the Carter Street sporting fields.

"It's just not something we will accept and it's not something the community will accept either," she said.

She said CCTV was an exceptional tool and Tamworth had a good network of cameras.

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said repairing fields and carparks that had been damaged by "idiots" came at a "helluva cost" to the community.

"You can talk about a damage bill and repairs ... but when you start ripping up grass fields it can take some months to get them back to where they should be, so really it's not just a bill today, it's a bill over a period of time," he said.

"At this time of year it's very difficult to get the grass growing again."

He said council had spent close to $2 million on CCTV cameras in the past decade and said he would continue to work with police on strategies.

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