Police were called to the south end park to investigate the property damage Sunday morning after several historical sites were targeted

Halifax Regional Municipality estimates the act of spray paint vandalism at Point Pleasant Park over the Thanksgiving Day long weekend cost $8,000 to remove.

Police were called to the south end park to investigate the property damage Sunday morning after several historical sites were targeted.

The Sailors' Memorial was one of the sites defaced. Photos of the damage showed purple paint covering the names of those who died for the country.

"Our crews are doing a great job getting out there and helping," said HRM spokesperson Nick Ritcey. "We have our contractor out there helping at no additional cost in many cases, and then we have volunteers out there helping as well and we really appreciate that."

"We hope this trend doesn't continue and that people respect these aspects, respect taxpayers' money and all the time of the people out there to help us."

Ritcey said HRM has a $17,000 a month contract with a company called Goodbye Graffiti which removes spray paint from streets, benches and signs.

"The company will come and remove any anti-government or racist graffiti at no additional charge off of municipal buildings, areas and parks," he explained. "If it's graffiti that is not racist in nature, or just some artwork on an asset, then we would have to pay extra for that."

Halifax Christian Academy was also the target of graffiti over the weekend.

A church group showed up to the school Sunday morning to find anti-Christian phrases spray painted on the building.

Multiple churches and cemeteries have been targeted this year, and last month racist graffiti was discovered in Dartmouth.

According to Halifax Regional Police, there have been 81 reported incidents of graffiti so far in 2018, which is at pace with the last two years.

Cst. John MacLeod is urging the public to report spray paint vandalism.

"We keep track of the graffiti, the different tags and things that are out there, so we can use them later on for investigations that may be repeating across certain areas of the city."

He said to take a picture and make a note of the time, location and date discovered.

Anyone with information on the vandalism at Point Pleasant Park, or any other incidents, is asked to contact police at 902-490-5016 or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.

With files from Matthew Moore and Meghan Groff