Billboard Boosts Effort To Catch Serial Slide Soiler

YPSILANTI, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A billboard along I-94 is part of an effort to help catch a person who has been soiling slides at an Ypsilanti playground over the last six months.

Adams Outdoor Advertising put the eye-catching message:  "Help us flush the pooper" on an electronic billboard about the case. Another version reads: "Do you civic doody. Report the pooper."

Earlier this month, officials in Ypsilanti said they were taking measures to put a stop to the so-called "mystery pooper."

Police Chief Tony DeGiusti, in an email sent in January, ordered officers to "make frequent checks in the area and record them on your daily log."

"We have a problem in Prospect Park with a miscreant that does not understand the difference between a children's playground slide and a toilet," the chief wrote. "Apparently this extremely misguided individual feels the need to defecate on the slide despite the cold weather."

Police, Ypsilanti employees and volunteers have been patrolling Prospect Park and stopping by each morning to make sure another surprise was not left overnight.

The billboard provides the hashtag #ypsipooper, which has been gaining some traction on Twitter.

The popular 9.5 acre park sits near a school and features a basketball court, a tennis court being used as a skateboarding venue as well as a picnic area.

Anyone with information about this crime should call local police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

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