Police want the community’s help to identify the culprits.
Community Constable Rachael Osborn, of Oamaru, said someone interfered with the CCTV camera box at the Severn St skatepark, possibly overnight last Thursday.
"The CCTV box has been broken into and items taken to make it non-functional."
It followed a spate of issues near the skatepark in the last three weeks, including repeated tampering of a KiwiRail warning sign on the adjoining rail corridor.
In the latest reported incident, the CCTV camera hard drive had been lifted by the vandals.
They endangered their lives by yanking down power supply cables.
"Fortunately they didn’t cut through the cable," Const Osborn said.
It left a potentially "massive cost" for the Waitaki District Council.
"We were informed on ... July 12.
"We’re still waiting on quotes and will be thousands because they’ve taken the hard drive."
KiwiRail had also been forced to replace their sign a few times because of vandalism, most recently about three weeks ago.
"It’s getting quite significant in terms of the cost."
Any public help would be appreciated.
"We need a member of the public to come forward ... obviously somebody is up to no good at the skatepark."
She noted the park was essentially designed for school-aged children, although other people did frequent the area.
Council community development manager Jason Evered said it owned cameras form part of the network of community safety cameras across Oamaru.
"On a day-to-day basis the cameras are operated by the local police, who have access to the network and review the recorded footage.
"If this damage was done to try and hide other criminal behaviour, it has done the opposite and drawn wider attention to the skatepark."
The cost of repairs resulting from the vandalism would fall on the council and its ratepayers.
"This is very unfortunate and like any other community owned asset, when it is damaged the whole of community suffers with paying the cost of repairs."
At this point council estimated costs of up to $2000 for replacement parts and technician time for repairs.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Network Waitaki who do a lot of work to maintain and repair the network of cameras."
The Waitaki District Youth Council had begun talking to skatepark users to see what improvements could be made, including a focus on rubbish collection.
Meanwhile, the council was looking to improve visibility in the skatepark area.
This included removing the concrete block walls at the skatepark and some landscaping along the Oamaru Creek boundary to improve the line of sight from Takaro Park and the pathway to Meek St.
By Brendon McMahon