Crime & Safety
'KONY 2012' Stencil on Geneva Water Well Protests Ugandan War Criminal
Police Reports: A stenciled "KONY 2012" on a Geneva water well promotes a charity movement to have Ugandan war criminal and fugitive Joseph Kony arrested by December 2012.
A stenciled "KONY 2012" on a Geneva well control panel is "criminal defacement of property" on the Geneva police blotter, but it's also a worldwide social protest against murder, rape and torture in Africa.
According to Geneva police reports, someone "placed a large painted mural sticker" on the control panel of Geneva Water Well #11 at 3800 Bricher Road sometime between 3 p.m. June 18 and 7 a.m. June 19.
The person or persons also painted “KONY 2012” five times on the well’s control panel and electrical box.
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“It appears the offended used a stencil to paint the graffiti,” the report said.
The report also notes that, “According to Wikipedia, Kony 2012 is a short film to draw attention to Ugandan indicted war criminal Joseph Kony.”
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Wikipedia goes on to explain that the purpose of the film by Invisible Children, Inc. is to promote the charity's "Stop Kony" movement. Joseph Kony is an indicted Ugandan war criminal and international fugitive. The movement hopes to make Kony's name known globally, so that he can be found and arrested before the end of this year.
The campaign against the African warlord went viral in March, according to an article by The Christian Science Monitor.
That the campaign would reach the quiet Chicago suburb of Geneva is a testimony that the some of the protestors' goals are being reached.
Kony is leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, a group that rose up against the Ugandan government in 1987. According to the Christian Science Monitor story, the brutal rebel Army is accused of abducting 30,000 children, many used as porters or sex slaves and "is notorious for murder, torture, mutilation, rape, widespread abductions of children and adults, and pillaging."
Geneva police Cmdr. Eric Passarrelli said the Kony 2012 graffiti didn't appear to be widespread in the west suburbs.
"I am unaware of any other agencies having a similar incident," he said. "We are viewing this as a criminal defacement to property, and as with any criminal incident, appreciate the community passing along any information they may be able to provide and calling 911 if they observe any suspicious activity."
