Thirteen cameras and a silent alarm system should make vandals think twice about trying to do damage at the Mother Cabrini Shrine.
A new security system has been installed, paid for entirely through contributions of cash and in-kind labor.
“I feel confident that we’re protected,” Shrine Administrative Director Jeff Lewis said. “We have good coverage with our cameras, and a lot of good technology to provide evidence in case someone tries to do something again.”
Until the system was installed, the 400-acre shrine property was protected after hours only by a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire that was installed after vandals did significant damage in 1964.
Now, the cameras are trained on the entrance, the buildings on the property and the dozens of statues that are visited each year by thousands of people from around the world.
Lewis said the system has been tested several times. If someone should try to break in, an alarm would sound in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Administrators at the Mother Cabrini Shrine decided to have the electronic security system installed after four statues were vandalized in November.
A person or persons came onto the property, located just off I-70 south of Golden, after the gates were locked on the evening of Nov. 14 and broke a statue of St. Bernadette in half, nearly knocked the head off a statue of Our Lady of Grace, damaged the face and feet of a statue of Jesus, and used a projectile to break a large hole in the head of the Mother Cabrini statue in the Grotto Chapel.
After the incident, contributions came to the shrine from around the world, as well as offers of help from artisans.
Steve Dorian, an artisan in Morrison, repaired the Mother Cabrini statue.
All the statues have been replaced or repaired.