One of the buttes in the Papago Park Preserve in Tempe has been vandalized.
A large asterisk enclosed by a blue circle was painted on a rock face. The graffiti, which is about 10 feet tall, resembles the Star of Life symbol commonly used by emergency medical services.
Police took an incident report of the matter after it was spotted by a park ranger last Tuesday.
Tempe spokesperson Kris Baxter-Ging says removing such graffiti from a rock is much different than removing graffiti from a building.
"It costs thousands of dollars and requires expertise to remove," Baxter-Ging said in a statement to KJZZ.
She said similar incidents have occurred on Tempe's "A" Mountain near Arizona State University's campus.
"Past graffiti on 'A' Mountain (Hayden Butte Preserve) has damaged native petroglyphs and cost tens of thousands of dollars to remove," Baxter-Ging said.
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