Graffiti, vandalism mark summer’s end in city
By Elaine Allegrini
Fri Sep 05, 2008, 02:57 AM EDT
BROCKTON
Photo by Marc Vasconcellos/The Enterprise
Boulders placed to control traffic in D.W. Field Park are covered with graffiti.
Though his business operates 24 hours a day, David Lynch said the building on North Quincy Street has not escaped the graffiti that has recently been plastered on buildings in the area.
“It’s all around,” said Lynch, owner of Lynch’s Towing. “It seems to happen between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. As soon as we got done cleaning it up, they came and did it again.
“There’s just no respect whatsoever,” he added.
The latest wave of graffiti in the area of North Quincy and East Ashland streets comes as reports of vandalism escalate throughout the city.
Graffiti covers benches and rocks at historic D.W. Fields Park. Three playgrounds were torched in two days last week and a fourth playground was dismantled.
One of the playgrounds was at the Ashfield School, an area of the city where residents have reported vandalism that includes breaks into motor vehicles and thefts of contents.
Pat Houle, chairman of the D.W. Field Park Association, is appalled by the vandalism and property damage, not only to the park but to the playgrounds and property in general.
“It’s so disrespectful,” said Houle, pointing to the efforts of city workers to keep the park free of graffiti.
Neighborhood Watch groups throughout the city offer another layer of protection, but neither the residents nor the police can be everywhere all the time, authorities say. And, the damage is most often done under the cover of darkness.
Ward 5 City Councilor Dennis DeNapoli said he saw youths hop the fence to the playground at Trinity Catholic Academy on Erie Avenue last weekend and called police to check the area for graffiti. Fortunately, there was no graffiti and no damage, according to DeNapoli, who attributes the spike in vandalism to the end of summer.
“The kids run out of gas the last week of August and get into mischief,” he said.
“We need to go back to the 10 p.m. call: Do you know where your children are?” said Ward 3 Councilor Dennis Eaniri, who has received recent reports of broken windshields and thefts of lawnmowers and property in his district.
Police Chief William Conlon said the graffiti and property damage most often occurs late at night when parents should be asking where their children are and who they are with.
“It’s not unusual to see kids out at 2 and 3 in the morning,” the chief said, noting that he is speaking of a small percentage of city youths.
“We don’t want to paint them all with that same brush, but it only takes a few to smear the image of the rest,” the chief said.
When trouble comes, it tends to come from groups, not individuals, Conlon said.
“With a group, they’re bolder,” he said.
As for the graffiti, or tagging, Conlon said it ranges from just plain vandalism to gangs marking territory, and to the artists who see the world as their canvas. Locally, he sees graffiti as vandalism or artistic attempts and less as gang related.
But, they all damage property, public property and private property. And, unless the damage is quickly repaired or the paint covered, it diminishes the value of the property and the area, city leaders say.
“I just don’t know why people are doing it,” said Ward 6 Councilor Michelle DuBois, whose district has been victimized by vandals in recent weeks. “It’s a very sad state of affairs when anybody ruins a playground.”
As investigators try to find those responsible for the damage, they are learning that playground fires are not unique to Brockton.
“They may be getting it from YouTube,” said Lt. Edward Williams of fire prevention, who saw a video of playground fires from across the country when his investigation led him to the popular video Web site.
Whoever is responsible for the vandalism, whether it be graffiti, thefts, fires or property damage, businessman Lynch said they need to be prosecuted and the victims need to see the process through.
“If the business owners show up in court and push it, the court will do something,” Lynch said. “I want them to come down here, take the graffiti off, get the paint and I want them to go out there and clean it up.”
Elaine Allegrini can be reached at eallegrini@enterprisenews.com.
L.A. councilman wants to join graffiti plan
By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Daily News Los Angeles
Article Last Updated: 09/04/2008 09:49:15 PM PDT
As the cost to paint over graffiti is expected to soar to $8 million this year for Los Angeles, a City Council member called Thursday for the adoption of a county program that makes parents responsible financially for cleaning up the tagging by their children.
Councilman Bernard Parks said he will introduce a proposal today to find out how to implement the program started by county Supervisor Gloria Molina.
“What we want is parents to take ownership of their kids,” Molina said at a City Hall news conference. “A lot of times, parents are not aware of what their children are doing, and we want to get them involved to stop the behavior.
“Graffiti is a quality-of-life crime. It destroys neighborhoods and creates a sense of fear in the community.”
And, she said, taggers have proven increasingly violent, killing two people this year who caught them in the act or tried to whitewash a spray-painted wall.
Molina said she was skeptical of the program when it was first suggested to her, but a pilot effort in Pico Rivera has resulted in 168 arrests and a sharp drop in crime.
“What we find is that this starts with young people and, as they get older, they think they can get away with crime and it escalates to where they are carrying guns and knives,” she said.
Under the program, once a tagger is arrested, the parents are brought in and told they have to pay restitution, Molina said. If they can’t afford it, they are sent to community service programs and parenting classes.
For the offenders, officials can withhold their driver licenses until they have made full restitution.
“We want them to know there is a price to pay,” Molina said.
Parks, the former Los Angeles police chief who said the last arrest he made was of a tagger, added that it also is an expensive crime for the city.
This year, it will pay close to $8 million to paint over graffiti.
Also, he said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Caltrans and other government agencies spend millions more to paint over walls and buses.
The new law would add to what the city already has done to combat graffiti. It was among the first to limit how spray paint is sold and recently installed cameras at various locations to try to catch taggers.
Parks said he doesn’t believe the city will need to spend very much to implement the program.
“We already have people working on graffiti and it is just refocusing their efforts,” he said. “Also, the City Attorney’s Office has the neighborhood prosecutors, where it would be perfect to prosecute these crimes.”
Molina said officials from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department, who have been working on the county program, can help get the city effort going.
The county program has started in unincorporated areas. Molina is trying to broaden it to include other cities, including Long Beach. Other supervisors are working with cities in their jurisdiction to adopt the plan.
TDOT Spends Thousands On Graffiti Clean-Up
NewsChannel5.com
Posted: Sep 2, 2008 04:55 PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It’s a nuisance costing taxpayers thousands of dollars every year – money that could be spent improving the roads. Instead, that money is spent cleaning up graffiti on Tennessee’s interstate bridges and signs.
Officials with the Tennessee Department of Transportation said graffiti is a constant problem that just won’t go away.
All across the state, TDOT cleans up and paints over graffiti, and the money adds up.
Take a drive on any of the state’s interstates and highways, and it’s easy to spot graffiti on overpasses, bridges and even signs.
Take I-440 for example. TDOT has already painted over a number of graffiti tags, and nearby you can see the work they have cut out for them.
“They’ll clean it up and then within matter of days more graffiti in same spot, so constant battle for the department to keep it cleaned up,” says TDOT spokesperson B.J. Doughty.
Cleaning up a typical overpass sign can cost up to $1,000. Replacing the sign costs even more. With graffiti across the state, the cost adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.
“When it burdens the department and that’s something that we have to spend money on, that’s a burden to taxpayers, as well,” says Doughty.
Some graffiti shows up in hard to reach places. Doughty says TDOT takes those instances of vandalism seriously.
“The danger these people are putting themselves in to get up there, and to put graffiti on a sign, they’re taking their life in own hands. They’re also endangering the motoring public who are traveling beneath them,” says Doughty.
TDOT will continue to clean up the mess, but they do want to warn taggers that their graffiti glory is not cheap for anyone.
“It’s a cost to everybody,” says Doughty.
Graffiti is often gang related, and may escalate in the form of turf wars. Gang will tag – or add to another gang’s graffiti.
When TDOT sees graffiti they think might be gang related, their cleanup crews take pictures that are then sent to local police departments.
______________________________________________________________________
Guarding against graffiti
BY JESSICA MAHAR
Parramattasun.com.au
2/09/2008 11:44:00 AM
Around $105,000 was spent by Parramatta Council to remove graffiti last year.
This year the council plans to spend the same plus another $100,000 for two staff and vehicles allocated to graffiti removal.
Each year councils in the west and south-west of Sydney pour thousands of dollars into cleaning up graffiti and tags.
But resourceful companies have come up with new security measures, all on display last week at the Security 2008 exhibition.
One such company is E-Nose, which has created a piece of equipment that is able to tell if spraypaint is sprayed in the area, thus setting off an alarm letting people know that possible vandalism is taking place.
Graham Bell, the chief executive said the product was not originally designed to catch someone doing graffiti red-handed, but for use by companies wanting to measure the smell or airborne chemicals.
In 2006, the Queensland Rail Corporation suggested the device could be used to detect vandals on trains.
“That’s when we became aware of the growing need for graffiti detection,” Mr Bell said.
“People are sick of looking at it, it’s a scourge.
“We can detect a four-second spray from 45 metres away – if they spend four minutes there it will be a much greater distance that the cloud will travel.”
The device has several “nostrils” where the smell triggers a silent alarm with police or council officers.
State Development Minister Ian Macdonald said the device has the potential to stamp out graffiti.
“Graffiti is a major problem that costs property owners millions of dollars in maintenance costs each year and impacts on public amenity,” he said.
“The E-Nose device is fully automated, portable and provides continuous security monitoring around the clock.
“It can be installed anywhere within the range of an internet or satellite telephone data transmission system.”
Web program helps South Bay police track, arrest taggers
WEB-BASED ANTI-GRAFFITI PROGRAM HELPS COUNTY’S POLICE AGENCIES SHARE INFORMATION TO IDENTIFY, ARREST THOSE RESPONSIBLE
By Mark Gomez Mercury News
Photos by Gary Reyes
Article Launched: 09/01/2008 09:53:35 AM PDT
Soon after joining the San Jose Police Department’s anti-graffiti unit, Eric Hove saw a need for a more effective way to chase down the tagging crews and gang members who cause about $1.8 million in damage to the city every year.
So the computer-savvy cop did some research and found a Web-based program that he believes will make a serious dent in the South Bay’s growing graffiti problem. Created by a Pittsburgh-based company, the Graffiti Tracking System will connect nearly every agency in Santa Clara County, allowing law enforcement officials to quickly and easily share information on taggers who often strike in more than one jurisdiction.
“Hopefully we can get a higher amount of arrests and better quality cases throughout the region and tie these people together so they get full accountability for what they’ve done,” said Hove, who expects the system to be fully running this fall.
The Web-based program — which is replacing San Jose police’s antiquated paper filing system — will allow investigators to download digital photos, receive e-mail alerts and more easily share information on the vandals who spray paint graffiti on sound walls, billboards and just about anything else in the public’s view. Police track the taggers based on the signatures they typically leave with their handiwork, like artists signing a painting, which are often initials to represent a crew or a nickname for an individual.
The system also features a mapping option that will allow police to better track gangs as they mark their turf throughout the city. Hove said there is a difference between tagging crews — he refuses to call them artists — and gang graffiti.
Angela Locke-Paddon, a community service officer with Gilroy’s graffiti abatement program, said the primary goal of tagging crews is “to get their graffiti on every little pole, sound wall and overpass. It’s not for the benefit of a gang. A lot of them think they’re artists and not committing a criminal act.”
And the taggers are striking with greater frequency. At a recent Northern California graffiti conference, law enforcement officials reported a rise throughout the region.
“It’s one of the biggest complaints in communities around the city,” said Hove, who spent three years as a robbery detective before moving to the anti-graffiti unit. “Everybody is affected.”
San Jose’s $1.8 million cleaning bill does not include graffiti sprayed on school grounds or the county’s transportation system. The Valley Transportation Authority spends an estimated $400,000 annually to clean graffiti off its fleet of buses and light-rail trolleys, and the San Jose Unified School District spent about $140,000 last year in graffiti and vandalism cleanup.
Hove and his partner, officer Mario Recinos, the San Jose Police Department’s only two full-time anti-graffiti investigators, sort through 70 to 100 cases monthly. More than once, the two officers have spent months on a case, only to find another agency had already identified the tagger and made an arrest.
“If we have that information upfront, our arrests should go up. Or at least our opportunities,” Hove said.
After spending two years searching for a Web-based system that can be shared, Hove got the ball rolling in January and secured from the department’s research and development unit the $14,000 necessary to purchase the program. In March, he made a presentation at a countywide meeting of police chiefs, showing how the tracking system works and how it could help each of the local agencies.
Many local agencies got on board after learning it would cost $600 yearly to access the system. Hove, who is still training San Jose patrol officers and other agencies on how to use the system, called the price tag “a big selling point.”
One of the system’s early successes was the arrest of two men suspected of spray-painting graffiti throughout San Jose and in Saratoga. During a routine traffic stop, Los Gatos police arrested a man for an outstanding warrant and found key evidence in the trunk, including about a dozen spray-paint cans, a number of specialized nozzles and a “piece book,” a compilation of sketches and drawings used by taggers.
Los Gatos police sent the report to Hove and Recinos. It was while entering that information that Hove and Recinos connected suspects Nimai Gough and Andrew Valones to several cases in San Jose and Saratoga. The men, who police say operated under the signatures “Hezer” and “Torcoe,” face five felony and misdemeanor vandalism charges, according to a Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman.
“We had open cases in our system. Los Gatos provided us with the information, and lo and behold, it matched up to what we had,” Hove said. “These guys get stopped all the time. Who knows who else” the new system could help.
Anti-Graffiti Wheels in Motion
Fund-raising effort planned
Posted: 4:05PM Sep 1, 2008
Last Updated: 6:33 PM Sep 1, 2008
Graffiti has become such a problem across the city that citizens are taking a front-and-center role to fight the vandals. The goal is to raise money to give to the city to help wipe out graffiti.
The South Omaha Bikers crew is a riding group. They constantly wheel down the streets and they’ve seen enough.
Rich Maly has lived here more than 50 years and says, “It’s gotten worse — just can’t catch up with them or anything. By the time that they clean it up, they’re right back within 10 to 15 hours later.”
Jeff Kohler owns the Welcome Inn and he says, “they got me too.”
He says the vandals tagging businesses are cowards lurking in the shadows of night and he refuses to give in.
Kohler says, “You can see my brick here is damaged because I constantly clean it off. The very minute I see that we’re having a problem, I clean it off right away. I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of having it on my building.”
The South Omaha Bikers are hosting a fund-raising event next weekend to fight the problem. Money raised will go to the city to clean up and prevent graffiti in South Omaha and organizers want everyone to get involved.
Bob Price, with the bikers group says, “We’ve been trying to do this for quite a while. Then we just got together and we’re just going to make it happen now. Everybody talks about it but we’re going to do something about it now.”
The S.O.B. crew has other riding groups on board with their efforts, introducing a new element in the fight against graffiti.
The fund-raising event is next Saturday, September 6, starting at 3 p.m. at the Welcome Inn at 24th and Castelar. Food, a raffle and live music are all included for a $10 donation. Six bands will perform.
After expenses, all proceeds go to the city’s Public Works Department to help clean-up and prevent graffiti in South Omaha.
Beverly residents irate over graffiti
By Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Staff Writer
Published: August 29, 2008 05:35 am
Bruno Matarazzo Jr. / Staff photo
BEVERLY — David Bagley had other plans for spending his day yesterday when he got out of work. He didn’t expect to spend hours using a lot of elbow grease to remove graffiti sprayed across the side of his home in black spray paint.
“Why?” Bagley asked his neighbor, Marc Lapointe, of the two-family condo they share. “What do they get out of it? I don’t understand.”
Bagley and Lapointe’s home was one of 14 vandalized on Mason and Lyman streets early yesterday.
Police said the markings included “random graffiti and several gang-style signs.”
But police stressed that there is no evidence of any gang-related activity.
The reason for that conclusion, Patrolman Mike Boccuzzi said, is the homes had markings from multiple gangs.
If gang members were going to vandalize, or “tag,” a neighborhood, there would be similar markings across the entire area, Boccuzzi said.
Along Mason Street, where a majority of the vandalism occurred, victimized homeowners were meeting to discuss the best way to remove the markings and trying to decipher what they meant.
Homes had a either a series of numbers or letters, a pitchfork, and even the Star of David.
Police said the Star of David was not a reference to Jewish faith but represents a gang. Police declined to specify any of the gangs.
“It’s violating,” said Kathryn Leib, who moved into her home two months ago.
Leib said her husband spotted the culprits around 4 a.m. when her dog started barking. Her husband looked out the window and saw two young men rummaging through her car parked in the driveway.
“(My husband) yelled at them, and they ran down toward Cabot Street,” Leib said.
Leib said her husband didn’t see the graffiti on their neighbor’s home when he yelled out the window.
Residents discovered the graffiti while leaving for work in the morning or seeing the police cruisers on the street.
Leib’s next door neighbor, Richard Jastrzembski, realized something was amiss when he saw a police officer photographing homes on the street.
He walked outside and saw his home marked with the numbers seven and four with a pitchfork.
“I feel it’s kids with too much time on their hands,” said Jastrzembski, who has lived in his home for more than 40 years.
Heather Wolsey, a resident of Mason Street who also had her home vandalized, isn’t laughing about the hijinks.
“That’s a lot of damage for a prank,” Wolsey said.
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer contributed to this report.
Comments
-It was probably just a matter of time before taggers or wannabe-gang members moved outside the areas of our City that have been hit with graffiti in the past. I’ve been concerned about this for awhile, and have discussed it with a number of City officials and my colleagues, to see whether a City Ordinance would be in order to (1) increase the penalties for tagging; (2) prohibit the sale of the painting materials normally used for this, to minors, within the City; and (3) some mechanism for encouraging cleanup of businesses when they are tagged. Other communities have done this, and there is discussion in Boston at the state level to deal with the problem there as well.
Perhaps this incident will prompt support for this effort by the City Council, and my sympathy lies with the homeowners who were affected.
Finally, I applaud my colleague Councilor Burke’s response on behalf of his constituents, and Chief Ray and the BPD’s response and involvement with other experts in the region – I expect we’ll all work together on this issue as it likely affects the two “downtown” Wards the most. I look forward to that effort when we resume our meetings next week.
Wes Slate
City Councilor, Ward 2
-graffiti artists should be shot on site. enrico_palazzo
-Right on. Chop off the spraying hand afterwards. After 2 times, they’ll have to spray with their feet. keep it real
-Shooting is a bit much, but I could be convinced about Tazering. Perhaps it could be a new urban sport, Tagger Tazing? Atlas Shrugging
-I HATE these frigging graffiti punks. It’s a clear demonstration of having no other self-worth and a clear attempt at getting some attention. But it screws aesthetics up for everyone, and is ultimately simply rude. newshound
-Idiot kids who think they belong to a gang. The symbols and numbers represent a gang born out of Chicago, the Folk Nation. The 7 and 4 stand for Gangster Discpiles…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_Nation
Bunch of young punks who aren’t really gang members but like to pretend they are because it makes them feel edgy and badass, running around and fake claiming…..silly especially since there really aren’t very many GD’s in this area, aside from Boston. Highly doubtful that it’s anything but a bunch of young boys trying to be hard by tagging up peoples personal property and committing other misdeamenor crimes, damn shame though. ryan
-these people like to be called taggers and last night down at rowens seafood by the bridge i actually saw one of them in action …i called police and the responded and arrested him 1 down so many to go. bob from beverly
-The kid tagging the board at Rowan’s is from Montserrat College of Art. That’s one scary gang member! What are they teaching over there? Jennifer
Two arrested after graffiti attack – Cronulla
Saturday, 30 Aug 2008 05:18am
Police have arrested two teenagers in relation to a graffiti attack on a train at a southern Sydney railway station this week.
About 12.45pm on Thursday four teenage males were observed spraying a large amount of graffiti on a train at the Cronulla Railway Station. The graffiti is estimated to have caused over $5000 in damage.
Commuter crime and general duties officers from Miranda attended immediately and gave chase, arresting a 16-year-old Cronulla youth a short time later.
He is expected to undergo youth conferencing in relation to the incident.
Police also seized a vehicle and a number of items inside the car, including spray cans, for forensic examination.
As a result of inquiries, an 18-year-old man attended Miranda Police Station late yesterday morning. He was placed under arrest and interviewed by commuter crime police before being charged with six offences relating to malicious damage and railway offences.
He has been given conditional bail to appear at Sutherland Local Court on 18 September.
Police inquiries into the two other teenagers are continuing.
If anyone sees graffiti occurring they should contact police or if they have information about graffiti artists they should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Graffiti Animals mark territory in all U.S. cities
Gallup Independent
By Philip Stake (8-26-08)
Staff writer
ABOVE: A wall in the alleyway between Coal Avenue and Historic Route 66 is one of the worst due to it’s location. BELOW: Jay Spencer drives a forklift past graffiti on an electrical box in the alleyway between Coal Avenue and Historic Route 66 on Monday afternoon. Despite efforts by police to curb the vandalism, graffiti continues to be a big problem. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy
(…For example, Los Angeles county in California spent roughly $28 million in 2006, according to surveys conducted by Keep America Beautiful, a nationwide non-profit, which hosts the Web site graffitihurts.org. Chicago spent $6.5 million and Las Vegas $1.7 million.)
Full Article…
GALLUP — On June 30, 2006, the Brooklyn Museum unveiled 20 graffiti murals, each rich in color and brimming with original concepts. The exhibit ran three months and marked a change in the social psyche. What started as subversive vandalism during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was suddenly thrust into public embrace.
But Gallup ain’t Brooklyn.
In Gallup, as in many other places, graffiti remains in its most primitive and destructive form. The markings are everywhere. Scribbles of disenfranchised youth, better known as “tags,” are scrawled illegibly down public alleyways and private fences, on downtown buildings and over doorways. You’ll find it on brick, wood, metal or concrete. To the outsider forced to view them, these strange markings are nothing more than enigmatic hieroglyphics; meaning that if artistic merit were currency, Gallup’s graffiti would be absolutely worthless. And indeed it is, although removal is costly.
The city spends about $40,000 each year cleaning graffiti, according to Parks Executive Director Ben Welch. That money keeps one full-time employee with a pressure washer running a futile race against vandals. And that’s probably the best that can be said for graffiti: It creates jobs.
The drawback is that graffiti attracts other forms of crime by signaling a lack of attention on the part of the community, according to the advocacy Web site, http://www.graffitihurts.org. It decreases the overall feeling of safety, thereby lowering property values and discouraging tourists. And the money spent on graffiti cleanup could have been used to better public schools, roads or parks.
The city of Albuquerque employs eight people, four crews of two, and spends roughly $1 million each year cleaning graffiti, according to Chief Public Safety Officer Pete Dinelli. Even that is a drop in the bucket when compared to larger metropolitan areas.
For example, Los Angeles county in California spent roughly $28 million in 2006, according to surveys conducted by Keep America Beautiful, a nationwide non-profit, which hosts the Web site graffitihurts.org. Chicago spent $6.5 million and Las Vegas $1.7 million.
Those figures are two years old, and recent headlines point to an increase since then. “Taking aim at vandalism,” read a July 20 headline in the Santa Fe New Mexican; and “Vandalism cases see sudden surge,” appeared in July on the front page of the Raton Range. El Paso city officials unveiled a “new, proactive” anti-graffiti initiative during a press conference just 11 days ago, on Aug. 15, according to the El Paso Times. El Paso’s plan is to spread the message that vandals will go to jail, through posters and handouts. It focuses on community involvement, encouraging residents to report graffiti vandals as soon as possible and to take steps toward quickly cleaning and painting over graffiti found on their own property.
This “community involvement” tactic is backed by Welch, and by Lt. Rick White of the Gallup Police Department, who the city sent to California for graffiti prevention training earlier this year.
“It’s definitely going to take a neighborhood effort,” White said, highlighting the difficulty of catching graffiti vandals in the act.
In fact, a neighbor’s call to metro dispatch on July 18 led to the apprehension of a 12-year-old boy who had been spotted painting a backward “R” followed by the letters “B” and “K” in a downtown alley with two accomplices.
In Gallup, where police logs are littered with more serious, violent crimes on a daily basis, prosecutors already have their hands full, although District Attorney Karl Gillson said that graffiti crimes often lead to felonious offenses. He said 65 juveniles have been prosecuted for graffiti since 1994, of which five have already gone on to commit more serious crimes such as burglary, aggravated battery, criminal sexual contact, and one pled no contest as an accomplice to first-degree murder.
Graffitihurts.org studies show that most graffiti vandals fall between ages 12 and 21, but the motivation behind their crimes is not as easily identified. Speculation ranges from boredom to influence from video games to gang activity. In Gallup, gang activity seems to be the most common assumption, but White is reluctant to assume anything.
“They’re putting gang signs up,” he said. “Whether they are in a gang or not I don’t know … some kids want to say they’re in a group and go around bragging that they are in a gang.”
At best, the vandals are wannabe artists; at worst, they are wannabe gang-bangers. In either case the crux of the problem lingers: How to stop it?
Sue Keeler, who runs a business on Historic Route 66 in Gallup, said she’s spent hundreds of dollars painting over graffiti behind her business time and again. Everyone agrees that quickly covering the markings — within 24 hours — is the best antidote against recurrence.
Albuquerque took punishment a step further four years ago when it began filing civil charges against graffiti vandals and their parents. A caveat to New Mexico’s juvenile code known as “vicarious liability,” allows the city to receive up to $4,000 from the parents of a minor if the court rules in favor of the city, which it has 121 times since 2004. According to Dinelli, Albuquerque has reclaimed $92,358 in property damage, restitution and punitive damages since the initiative began. It has also amassed more manpower for cleanup by securing 1,348 hours of community service.
The city is usually forced to settle for pennies on the dollar, and has collected only a fraction of the cost to keep the city graffiti-free. One reason is that not all vandals have been caught and another is that many can’t afford the “tens of thousands of dollars” required for removal. But, Dinelli said, the city has yet to see a repeat offender. He said that as part of the settlement, he requires the parents of graffiti vandals to sign a contract stating that if their child vandalizes again, they will be liable for the total amount of the damages.
“I make it very clear that it will not be tolerated,” Dinelli said. “It’s no more than an animal marking its territory.”
ROSELLE: Time to remove graffiti reduced to 72 hours
Tribune staff report August 27, 2008
Village officials unanimously voted this week to amend a graffiti ordinance that would require property owners to clean up damaged areas within 72 hours.
The previous ordinance, enacted in 1993, allowed for 30 days to remove graffiti. Village Administrator Jeff O’Dell said the change was not because of an increase in vandalism, just a bit of “housekeeping” by the board.
“We’ve had graffiti at times in village parks, the train station and even sidewalks, and all we’re looking to do is keep the village looking nice and get things cleaned up as soon as we can,” he said.
<!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–>
<!–[endif]–>The revised policy makes it one of the strictest such ordinances in the area.
Itasca requires removal “within five days of receiving a written notice from the village,” said Village Administrator Dave Williams, who added that officials are reviewing the policy.
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<!–[endif]–>In Bartlett, property owners are given 14 days following official notice, said Steve Busco, assistant to the village administrator. In Bloomingdale, owners are required to notify police of any graffiti, then must remove it within 10 days.
“We’re not trying to compare ourselves with anyone else,” said Roselle Police Chief Richard Krueger.
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<!–[endif]–>”We just feel that the quick removal of graffiti is an important crime-prevention tool.” 8Those who do not act within 72 hours could face fines.
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<!–[endif]–>—David Sharos
Graffiti grows at taxpayer’s expense
Contributed by: Jean Ray on 8/26/2008
During the first six months of 2008, South Suburban Parks and Recreation has recorded nearly 140 major graffiti incidents in the community’s parks and trails system.
The majority of incidents have occurred late at night along trail ways, in underpasses and in parks. This year, South Suburban has the highest recorded costs for clean up efforts ever accumulated exceeding $31,000. The manner in which the graffiti is occurring hinders cleanup. Vandals are using permanent markers and paint which can be very difficult to remove depending on the surface on which it is placed. Some surfaces need to be sand blasted, power washed or treated with a chemical agent which can rapidly increase removal costs.
Often surfaces where graffiti has been removed are permanently damaged by “graffiti shadows.” This is especially true for brick buildings, playground equipment or the inside of public rest rooms.
Most municipalities have ordinances requiring property owners to remove graffiti. For example, in the City of Littleton cleanup is required within 48 hours. Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is committed to clean up public property graffiti within one week using its community service workers. Additionally, the County offers rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of vandals involved in illegal tagging or graffiti activities. Law enforcement officials document incidents with photographs as well as track the locations and clean up costs. Photographs are reviewed by law enforcement who look for similarities and in some cases use them as evidence against perpetrators. Collected data is also used to identify specific locations that have been prone to graffiti or vandalism. These areas are then targeted for additional patrolling by park rangers and law enforcement officers.
Park signage as well as bike and hiking trails with underpasses are graffiti targets and law enforcement and South Suburban need help with catching vandals. Watch these areas and if suspicious activity is witnessed, please report the information to the appropriate law enforcement agency immediately, including the time, location of the activity and, if at all possible, a description of the individuals involved.
Two Charged in Bristol Park Graffiti Spree
By DON STACOM |Courant Staff Writer
August 26, 2008
BRISTOL — – Two young city men were arrested in connection with a graffiti spree that badly marred the Rockwell Park pool in April. Angry city leaders said they plan to seek restitution when the cases go to court.
Remy-Jorge Cazada y Castro, 18, and an unnamed 17-year-old were charged with first-degree criminal mischief and third-degree trespassing. They were accused of spray-painting the nicknames Hack and Soro in 3-foot-high black letters on the walls of the drained pool just a few days before city workers were to fill it for the season.
Cazada y Castro, a recent graduate of Bristol Central High School, and the 17-year-old were arrested Friday and released pending Sept. 2 court appearances, Lt. Edward Spyros said Monday. Cazada y Castro lives on Woodard Drive, about 1 1/2miles from Rockwell, while the 17-year-old lives near the park, police said.
Police continue investigating graffiti vandalism just a week and a half ago that stained Rockwell’s pool house and a historic stone wall at the park. So far, investigators say they don’t believe that the crimes are related to the April vandalism.
“At this time, we haven’t found any connections between the most recent damage and these suspects,” Spyros said.
Both incidents infuriated neighbors and city officials, partly because the city is spending more than $2.5 million to restore Rockwell, its biggest and best-known park.
“We’re in the hopes that the court will prosecute to the fullest extent to of the law,” Mayor Art Ward said late Monday.
The 17-year-old’s name won’t be released unless a judge orders him to be tried as an adult. Ward said the city will ask that the 17-year-old and Cazada y Castro — or their families — be required to pay the $2,800 cost to clean the pool.
The criminal mischief charge is a Class D felony, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine; the trespass charge is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to three months in prison and a $500 fine.
Police have increased patrols in all city parks, and are planning video monitoring of some parks soon, Spyros said.
Edmonton businesses neglect graffiti-removal money
Robin Collum, edmontonjournal.com
Published: 11:19 am
EDMONTON – Too few businesses are taking advantage of Edmonton’s graffiti cleanup program, the city says.
City Hall has been running a pilot program all summer that provides free graffiti-cleaning to properties in six “graffiti-free zones.” But few businesses are asking for help, organizers say.
“(Graffiti) creates a sense of insecurity in our city,” said Sharon Chapman, manager of the Graffiti Project. “(But) we’re finding limited property owners contacting us. We really need property owners to take advantage of the program before it gets too cold.”
There are six graffiti-free zones in Edmonton: the downtown core, Inglewood, Mill Woods, Old Strathcona, Alberta Avenue and the area around Stony Plain Road. Businesses in those neighbourhoods who ask the city for help can get up to 23 square metres of graffiti washed off their property for free. The city has budgeted $120,000 towards removing tags in the six zones.
The project was launched at the beginning of summer to help building owners follow the city’s community standards bylaw, which passed in April.
The bylaw has been controversial because it levels penalties against business owners whose properties are run-down, vandalized or untidy. Chapman said that the graffiti cleanup project was set up to make it affordable for buildings in graffiti-prone areas to follow the bylaw.
“We have been receiving some criticism over the last while that we don’t have supports available to property owners who have graffiti, but really we do have supports, we just really need property owners to take advantage of them for this year,” Chapman said.
The graffiti cleanup is a fairly simple process – three coats of a special solvent will take off almost all traces of graffiti from surfaces such as vinyl or brick. The cleaners then spray on another substance that acts as a barrier. If the building is retagged, the paint can be washed off with soap and water.
“It’s important that we get rid of graffiti,” said Jim Taylor, head of the Downtown Business Association. “We find that in cities, when it’s litter-free and graffiti-free, there’s a whole lot less accompanying crime. It’s a civic pride thing, and the people who do petty crime tend to hang out in areas that are rougher and messier.”
Anti-tagging wall fights back
By CHARLIE GATES – The Press | Monday, 25 August 2008
Taggers spray walls but now the walls are spraying back in a graffiti-busting innovation that has cleaned up a Christchurch trouble spot.
(The Christchurch City Council spent $46,900 on graffiti removal in July and spent $1.2 million last financial year.)
If a would-be tagger approaches the Stormwall, a patented Kiwi invention, motion sensors activate high-pressure water hoses that drench the tagger and prevent spray paint from sticking to the wall.
The system had eradicated tagging since it was installed on the outside of Southern Monograms on the corner of Colombo and Carlyle streets about six weeks ago.
The first system to be installed in the South Island, the Stormwall had turned the heavily tagged wall overlooking the railway track into a blank canvas.
Warwick Taylor, a director of the company that installed the system, said the Stormwall was similar to a men’s urinal.
“You walk up to it and motion sensors trigger water to spray out in a mist and run down the wall. It is atomised water so if they did get paint on the wall, it is very easy to remove in the morning,” he said.
Taylor said the wall was now graffiti-free.
The system was invented by Hawkes Bay resident Tony Bicknell. Twenty systems have already been installed in the North Island.
Bicknell’s business partner, Patrick Bridgeman, said the system stopped graffiti.
“All the walls we have in place are just never tagged. They have a go once and they get water sprayed on them so they do not come back,” he said.
However, a video demonstrating the Stormwall on YouTube has attracted the ire of the tagging community.
Comments on the film boldly claim the system will never stop taggers.
“Dude, I paint when it rains, that won’t work,” said one post.
“Graffiti cannot be stopped,” proclaimed another.
The Christchurch City Council spent $46,900 on graffiti removal in July and spent $1.2 million last financial year.
A new law that raises the maximum fine for tagging from $200 to $2000 and bans the sale of spray cans to people under 18 was passed in June.
An arrest for graffiti attacks
24 August 2008
A BRISTOL man has been arrested by Portishead police in connection with a number of graffiti attacks in the town.
The De Baron tag, well-known in the Bristol area for more than a year, recently began appearing on privately owned walls and buildings throughout Portishead.
Sergeant Terry Scoble from the town’s police station said: “A 30-year-old male has been arrested in connection with the graffiti attacks in Portishead and in excess of 30 more attacks in south Bristol.
“Computer and technical equipment has been seized and the man has been released on bail pending further investigations.”
Earlier this year, Portishead police won the regional heat of the prestigious national Tilley awards for its anti-graffiti scheme.
Operation Jacket involved stamping out tagging in the town, which cost North Somerset Council an estimated £30,000 ($60,000 US) to clean up.
Sgt Scoble added: “Portishead police will not tolerate graffiti and we will continue our robust response to anyone defacing the town.
Graffiti not being deterred by efforts
By CHRISTOPHER RUVO
The Intelligencer
While surveillance cameras and increased police patrols have reduced criminal mischief at Veterans Memorial Park in Upper Moreland, graffiti continues to be a problem, officials said.
Police last week reported two new graffiti jobs, one at the pavilion, the other on a bench at the park, which until earlier this month was known as War Memorial Park.
The new reports add to the year’s running tally of at least 10 graffiti incidents, which so far have cost the township upwards of $1,000 in cleanup bills, an official said.
“We have to pay for the man-hours and the paint when we have these incidents,” said Pat Stasio, Upper Moreland’s director of parks and recreation.
The good news is that the township is on pace to spend much less than it used to annually before cameras and increased patrols started. Previously, the annual vandalism bill was $6,000 to $8,000 and the criminal mischief at the park was worse than just graffiti.
“They used to break lights and destroy trash cans and damage the hockey rink,” said Stasio, adding the township is in the process of “continuing to clean up the park and make it as user-friendly as possible.”
The graffiti incidents reported this year range from unintelligible markings made in marker to more elaborate symbols and “tags,” some of them gang related. Usually the pavilion is the target.
On April 18, an officer discovered a Latin Kings gang symbol spray-painted in yellow on the pavilion and two smaller markings signifying the gang done in permanent marker.
Twelve days later, it was reported that surveillance cameras recorded two unidentifiable males, one in a yellow hoodie, spray-painting the pavilion. Their handiwork included a three-pointed crown, a Latin Kings symbol.
Both police and Stasio doubt real gang members produced the symbols.
In June, an officer found white paint splattered on the pavilion, the hockey rink surface and a goal in the rink. In May, police discovered “Northwest Philly” painted in blue paint on a park bench. “NWP” and undecipherable designs were painted in the same blue on the pavilion.
In other incidents, vandals used markers to scribble words and designs, from profanities to the seemingly innocuous like “black top.” The two most recent defacements, which were discovered on Thursday and Aug. 16, were done in marker.
Christopher Ruvo can be reached at 215-345-3147
Skate Park shut to clean a new batch of graffiti
By Mark Storer
Correspondent
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Skateboarders arriving at the skate park in Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley Park were disheartened to find it closed Friday morning.
Workers with the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District were cleaning the course after the latest in a string of tagging incidents, officials said. The tagging graffiti included swastikas, obscene references and personal insults.
“It’s been closed a number of times recently,” said Daryl Wagar, park superintendent. “We called the police twice (Thursday) because of problems with some of the skaters here.”
According to Wagar, “It’s not the kids who are the problem. We’re getting a lot of skaters in here between the ages of 18 and 30, really, and they’re not the regulars. They’ve been rude to our staff, spitting at them and yelling at them, and it’s that group that is the problem.”
Greg Stuart, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo, agreed. The skate park is directly behind the club’s facilities.
“We’ve noticed it’s not the regulars that seem to be the problem,” Stuart said. “I’ve been seeing a lot of people — not really kids, but older guys — who aren’t regulars around the park.”
Besides the graffiti, an oak tree adjacent to the skate park has become festooned with tennis shoes. Some 22 pairs were visible Friday.
The shoes have been there for some weeks, with new ones being added all the time.
“It takes a lift to get them out of there and we don’t own one of those,” said Wagar. “We’re spending between 12 and 15 thousand dollars a year on repairs to vandalism to these parks.”
Pleasant Valley Skate Park is not the only vandalism target.
At Mission Oaks Park, which was designed with metal blocks and guards on the cement to prevent skateboarding, vandals have used tools to remove the metal barriers, Wagar said.
At Pleasant Valley Skate Park, vandals have used tools to cut portions out of the wrought-iron fence that surrounds the course.
The June 14 death of Camarillo resident Andrew Singler, 18, a skate park user, led to tagging and graffiti in memoriam to him. Still visible on the course Friday was a message to Singler from a fellow skater. “Enjoy Heaven,” it read.
Park District officials said they and the Singler family are cooperating on ideas for combating the graffiti.
“We want to find ways to prevent this stuff from happening,” said Dan LaBrado, general manager of the district. “We’re spending a lot of money on repairs, and that can’t continue.”
The district and the Singlers are working to create a community forum on skateboarding, he said.
“We hope the community can help us.”
District officials also have been working in cooperation with the Camarillo Police Department to help make arrests and stop vandalism. A police spokesman was not immediately available for comment Friday.
Wagar said the district’s new Park Patrol program has been helpful, too.
“We’ve got more of a presence out here than we used to,” he said.
Graffiti program will make taggers pay
Article Launched: 08/19/2008 05:12:41 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES COUNTY – A graffiti enforcement program that will allow for a civil process in addition to the existing criminal procedure was approved today and becomes effective September 18.
The new ordinance allows the county to declare itself a “graffiti victim” and recover costs for graffiti abatement – including enforcement, removal and damages.
The County can recoup unpaid costs through liens or special assessments against the property of the graffiti offender or guardian of offending minor.
The cost of graffiti abatement has been re-assessed to reflect the true cost to taxpayers for removal, repair or replacement of defaced property to $522; and $665 for enforcement per incident in County areas.
Adult graffiti offenders are subject to a civil citation issued by the Sheriff, and administered through the County’s Ombudsman for fines up to $1,000.
The new Ordinance expands Molina’s graffiti enforcement program which resulted in 168 arrests and confiscation of weapons, drugs and graffiti tools within a six month period this year.
Schools clean up summer of graffiti
SR district spend $5,000 to clean, replace 159 panes of glass at Elsie Allen High
By Laura Norton
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 6:06 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 9:49 a.m.
Sonoma County schools are spiffing up for the first day of classes, shampooing carpets, setting up computers and, at Elsie Allen High where 159 panes of glass have been hit by graffiti, buffing windows.
Santa Rosa City Schools spent $5,000 this summer to clean and replace windows at the Stony Point Road high school, which had been tagged with an acidic etching cream that disintegrates glass.
The tags were mostly gang marks, symbols and names or initials, said Principal Mary Gail Stablein. Removing them is “just part of keeping things spic and span,” she said.
“We’ve got it all cleaned up,” Stablein said. “But (vandals) did hit one building, all the way around.”
Law enforcement officers specializing in graffiti say glass etches are the most detrimental form of graffiti. While paint can usually be removed and always painted over, removing etches can mean having to replace a window.
Bill Kerkhof, owner of S&B Soda Blast, uses two $6,000 tools to buff out tags that haven’t overly corroded the material.
Tags at Elsie Allen have kept his business busy all summer, Kerkhof said.
“There’s a lot of profanity, a lot of names,” he said. “It’s expensive to remove it, sure, but not as expensive as replacing glass.”
Elsie Allen High isn’t the only school hit by etched graffiti. Windows at Santa Rosa High also bear the marks of acid, said Jenny Bruneman, maintenance and operations director for Santa Rosa City Schools.
Mike Rosche, owner of Riley Street Art Supply, said he no longer stocks etching cream, a clear acid gel, because of his concerns about its use in graffiti.
“I will order it if someone comes in and needs it, but keeping it stocked, it’s just not worth it. Etching is the worst type of graffiti,” he said.
Other craft stores in the area do stock etching cream. Prices average $8.50 for a 3-ounce bottle to about $40 for a 22-ounce jar.
Cleaning up is much more expensive.
Kerkhoff works for $80 an hour, in which time he can buff the graffiti off four to five salvageable windows.
That’s still cheaper than replacing windows, which cost the district $300 to $400 each.
“We decided to tackle windows this summer and made a $5,000 purchase order,” Bruneman said. “But we don’t know if it will even be enough.”
You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220
or laura.norton@
pressdemocrat.com.
City issues lien for graffiti debt
Hold could be put on home of family of convicted youth
By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/18/2008 09:59:54 PM PDT
PICO RIVERA – The city initiated its first lien against guardians of a juvenile convicted of graffiti vandalism.
Public Information Officer Bob Spencer said Friday that a Pico Rivera family was served with legal documents July 14. The couple has until Friday to pay the city before the lien against their Poinciana Street home is finalized.
The family did not respond to requests for comment.
“We made exhaustive attempts to avoid doing this with this family by getting them to make payments,” Spencer said.
A lien is a hold that can be placed on property to ensure payment of a debt. That hold can prevent the owner from selling that property, or at least transferring the title to a new owner, without paying the debt.
The family owes almost $2,000 to the city in court-ordered restitution for damage caused by graffiti.
They were ordered to pay in June 2007, and made one $150 payment, then stopped, Spencer said.
In September 2007, Los Angeles County Supervisors Gloria Molina and Don Knabe co-authored a motion by the Board of Supervisors that required parents of minors who leave graffiti tags and other forms of vandalism to pay the cost of cleaning up the minor’s mess.
In December, Molina agreed to fund a Vandalism Enforcement Team in partnership with Pico Rivera. That team included four sheriff’s deuties, one deputy district attorney and one probation officer to handle graffiti in the area.
The Sheriff’s Department also employs the Graffiti Tracker system, which uses photos of tags to identify the city’s most prolific vandals.
A public works team is also used to clean up graffiti when it is discovered.
According to sheriff’s Pico Rivera Station Capt. Mike Rothans, preventing graffiti and cleaning it up quickly helps to impede gang activity and keep crime rates down.
“We have to give much of the credit to the vandalism team, they’ve arrested over 170,” Rothans said. “That has a positive effect on reducing violent crime.”
According to Public Safety Manager Steve Gutierrez, the city has so far been awarded almost $147,000 in court- ordered restitution, from adults and the guardians of juveniles. About $41,000 of that has been collected.
Gutierrez said the Los Angeles County Probation Department enforces collection when juveniles are involved, and adults typically pay city cashiers directly.
City Manager Chuck Fuentes said the city has been clear it would be aggressive in targeting graffiti and making vandals pay.
“At the start of our anti-graffiti campaign, we gave loud- and-clear warnings that we would do whatever was necessary to ensure Pico Rivera taxpayers were fully reimbursed for damage and costs incurred by graffiti vandals, up to and including property liens.”
Graffiti vandals target new £60k skatepark
By Chris Gregory
A NEW skatepark that has only been open for a matter of weeks has been covered in offensive graffiti by vandals.
Young thugs targeted the £60,000 facility in Hartletts Park, Hook, on the evening of July 17, daubing the ramps with offensive messages and pictures.
Councillor Antony Hunter, a member of Hook Parish Council, said: “It is sad that a small group of teenagers decided to cause criminal damage to a brand-new facility, which is so well enjoyed by so many in the same age group.
“We are working closely with the the police in their efforts to track down those responsible for this wanton act.”
He added the parish council’s cleaning team had to clear the site of rubbish left by travellers before tackling the graffiti.
The group parked about 17 caravans on the football pitches in Hartletts Park on July 14 but, following a court order obtained by the parish council, they left the next day.
Cllr Hunter said the parish council’s cleaning team had to remove waste from the site, including human excrement, before having to deal with the graffiti.
Tony Pill, a world-famous BMX rider from London Road, Hook, officially opened the skatepark in June.
The facility, which took five weeks to build, was funded by £49,000 from developer Taylor Wimpey and £11,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.
Local beat officer Pc Stacey Beale said: “We are still investigating the incident and we would be grateful for any information anyone can provide.”
Anyone with information can contact Pc Beale, at Hook police station, on 0845 045 4545.
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