Convicted taggers may have to monitor their graffiti targets

Convicted taggers may have to monitor their graffiti targets
By GREG WELTER – Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/05/2008 09:57:29 PM PDT
Graffiti artists convicted of felony vandalism may be ordered to monitor and clean up the site they tagged for a year, even if someone else defaces it.
A bill signed into law last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger permits judges to impose the community service, in addition to other penalties, regardless of the perpetrator’s age.
If minors convicted of tagging don’t comply with such an order, their parents may be held responsible for the cleanup, under the new law.
Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, authored the bill to discourage a tendency by taggers in Southern California to put their own graffiti over commissioned murals, considered community enhancements.
He said parole and probation departments will become the logical agencies to supervise the community service sentence, which under most circumstances will only be imposed on those who cause damage exceeding $400.
Even if his department had the personnel to monitor those convicted of vandalism, Butte County Probation Director John Wardell said many are on summary probation, and not under the direct supervision of a probation officer.
Only those on formal probation could be made to comply with the court order, and Wardell said that isn’t realistic given current staffing levels and an impending budget cut.
“The law is a great idea, but it needs to be funded,” he said.
Wardell said his department had a community service program involving minors until earlier this year, but had to give it up due to lack of funding. “It didn’t specifically target graffiti, but it would have been a good fit with this law,” he said.
Wardell said sending out a defendant to clean up graffiti, especially if it involved a minor, would require close supervision to ensure safety.
If such sentences are handed down locally in graffiti cases, Wardell said his department would do its best to enforce compliance.
Davis said his bill also provides for alternate community service to be ordered, where graffiti cleanup isn’t practical.

Carla Thaler Commentary

Governor Schwarzenegger signed this bill while I was attending the 2008 Northern California Graffiti Conference last week.  I’ve waited to comment about this news to allow some time to really think about it and make sure I wasn’t having a knee jerk reaction.  My opinion is not in line with most of what I’ve read on this subject.

I have a couple of problems with this bill. 

• It’s unlikely the vandal will be removing their own graffiti and if so only a limited amount.  By the time a vandal is captured and prosecuted it is unlikely that his vandalism is still in place.  If it is than either the city is not doing a good job at abatement or the property owner has not had it privately removed. 
• Inside knowledge.  I am constantly reading forums where the vandals are sharing ideas and experiments in ink, etch, scribes, markers, etc. to find the most staining or damaging.  There is an ongoing movement on the side of graffiti advocates to come up with graffiti methods that are more difficult or costly to remove increasing the length of time the vandalism will remain.  By giving them access to graffiti removal products and methods we are giving them information that can then be turned against the community.
• Continuing belief that graffiti is no big deal and can be removed by anyone.  While it is true that a lot of graffiti can be covered up with some paint with little time or money, very rarely does this bring the surface back to pre-vandalism condition.  It takes trained professionals with a range of products to remove graffiti vandalism with minimal remaining damage to the surface the graffiti was on.  More signs and surfaces have been further damaged through improper removal techniques or caustic chemicals.

On the other hand I sort of like the one year of responsibility for the site.  I know I can’t have both, but hear me out.  What intrigues me about this portion is something I experienced several times while running the homeless to work program at Portland Clean & Safe.  We would provide formerly (and at times currently) homeless individuals with a job performing maintenance tasks in Downtown Portland.  This would include sweeping sidewalks of trash, picking up glass, removing graffiti, and dealing with a variety of bodily wastes.

It never failed that within about a week of starting the program the new guy would come in.  They could have been out on the sidewalks creating messes of their own as little as a week before.  But here they would be standing in my office saying, “I can’t believe what pigs these people are.”  I would tell them that was why we needed hard workers like themselves.  You would see a little glimmer of pride in their eyes and their performance would improve.  A few times after a worker was unable to battle the barriers to employment I would see them on the street.  They would always be the neatest ones on the block with their belongings gathered together and trash going into the nearest can.

My point is that when confronted with cleaning up the effects of behavior they themselves were guilty of they realized that their actions had impacts on others.  Perhaps a little bit of time spent cleaning up tags would give the vandals a bit more appreciation of their own actions.

Graffiti In the News (news and commentary)

Camp Bowie businesses take a bite out of crime 

BY SARAH MASON

Fort Worth Business Press

July 28, 2008

Camp Bowie businesses will see if two heads are better than one when dealing with neighborhood crime. While the area hasn’t seen a major hike in criminal activity, members of the Camp Bowie District Inc. are banding together with police to keep theft and vandalism at bay, said Brandy O’Quinn, the organization’s president.

In this effort against crime, merchants of the Camp Bowie District Inc. have united and are developing plans for the newly instated Camp Bowie District Inc. Business Crime Watch.

“Neighborhoods have always been involved [with the police] – like with Citizens on Patrol – but businesses tend to be caught up in their own thing or their own strip,” O’Quinn said. “We as businesses need to help the police departments by being the eyes and ears.”

According to Alison Letnes, Fort Worth’s graffiti abatement coordinator, this is a new role for businesses to take on. Letnes said the city’s graffiti abatement program never held an official partnership with organized businesses.  

“It would be a huge asset for the graffiti abatement program to have this relationship with Camp Bowie,” Letnes said. “Citizens on patrol are basically our eyes and ears, not only for police department, but for our program.”

Letnes and O’Quinn are discussing a pilot project to discourage the rising amount of graffiti in the area. Letnes proposed working with graffiti artists, or taggers, to create murals on properties – with the owner’s consent. O’Quinn hopes to take the program a step further and discussed commissioning taggers to do such work.

“Some taggers want to go legit, but they don’t know how or don’t have confidence to approach property owners to get permission,” Letnes said. “And that’s pretty much the difference between graffiti and art: permission.”

Camp Bowie District Inc. also plans to enhance communication between police officers and between businesses in the area, O’Quinn said.

Watching out for other business’ safety and initiating contact during recent meetings is a small step that could make a world of difference to surrounding businesses, said Terry Kearney, a District board member and partner in Lucile’s Stateside Bistro. Kearney, who recently experienced theft at Lucile’s, said a united community of merchants would provide needed support and advice whenever a business is victimized.

“It’s in the really early stages right now, so the key is getting the communication going,” Kearney said. “I just know if there’s a problem next door or down the street, having others watching for you or coming up with ideas can’t hurt.”

http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=8064

 

Carla Thaler Commentary

As I first started reading this article I got excited.  If there is any hope of managing graffiti it will require public-private partnerships.  As vandalism grows and budgets shrink municipalities can no longer be the only soldier on the front of the graffiti war.  The proposed partnership is a great step in retaining the cleanliness and safety of the district.  Businesses should be looking out for each other, but it’s nice to see a formal program highlighting that cooperation.

The Camp Bowie District Inc. has worked hard for the last 8 years to revitalize and beautify their neighborhood.  They have made infrastructure improvements including landscaping, held events to showcase the district, and served as advocates for development. 

Obviously they have been frustrated by the efforts of graffiti vandals to undo their beautification efforts with their “art”.  Taking a stand by agreeing to keep an eye out for vandals and working with police is empowering.  Too often businesses are victimized by graffiti with little understanding or recourse.

The article takes a sharp left though when Letnes and O’Quinn start talking about mural programs for the vandals, or even worse paid commissions for vandals.  Ideas such as these are the result of well meaning but uninformed residents and communities.  Sadly there are many communities that can tell you from experience that these types of programs rarely work as envisioned.

Legal walls, murals, “Graffiti 101″ classes all seem to be the way to give these “artists” an outlet so they will cease forcing their marks on the entire community.  Unfortunately a deeper understanding of the graffiti culture allows professionals to predict the future of projects like this.

Contrary to the very vocal graffiti advocates out there, graffiti is not art.  It is a crime.  The difference between graffiti and art is permission.  No matter how attractive the graffiti appears, if it was applied without permission from the owner of the surface it rests on, it is vandalism.  The large majority of graffiti vandals do not consider the selves artists.  Frequently vandals will state that if it’s not illegal it’s not graffiti.   They are tagging for “fame”, politics, frustration, boredom, rebellion, or a whole host of other reasons that have nothing to do with art.  So, while they may take advantage of legal walls or mural spaces it is unlikely that the vandals will discontinue their illegal vandalism.

It’s also important to consider a few other factors.  How many active vandals are working in the area?  Will there be a mural space for each of them?  Is there a process for selection?  Will there be constraints as to what the subject matter of the graffiti is?  Will the vandals that are not selected increase their illegal efforts?

Finally the idea of commissioning the graffiti vandals is outrageous.  Of course Camp Bowie and Fort Worth wouldn’t be the first to do this though that doesn’t make it right.  A vandal who reaches an “artistic” level of talent has done so by developing his skills on the backs of property owners.  Commissioning these vandals to do murals is rewarding their illegal activities and legitimizing their prior (or possibly still current) actions. 

What started out as an article of a community that was fed up and willing to fight back quickly turned into the true story of a community that is willing to give in to concessions as a way to “buy” the cooperation of the vandals.

Graffiti In The News (news and commentary)

Ottawa couple replaces graffiti with mural that violates city bylaw. Told only permitted in institutional, business districts, not residential areas.

Posted By THE CANADIAN PRESS

An Ottawa couple received a notice from the city on July 10 stating they had 10 days to remove graffiti from their garage door. Alexandra and Tony Awad decided to heed the advice they found on the Ottawa police website.

The couple paid an artist $500 to paint a mural on the door. Alexandra Awad says they even called the city to make sure it was OK.

But, as it turns out, it wasn’t.

They have now been told to remove the mural because the city only allows them in institutional and business districts, not residential areas.

Susan Jones, director of bylaw services, said the city prefers the property be returned to its original look. Alexandra Awad hasn’t said what the couple will do now, but added it would be foolhardy go ahead and paint the door white and leave another blank canvas for vandals.

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1131569

Carla Thaler Commentary

Hey!, what happened? Looks like the well-meaning folks are getting a bad deal, from all sides. Let’s take a look…

This is a great example of how lack of strategy and cooperation among municipal departments can confuse the issue of graffiti and continually victimize property owners. Even in cities that advertise a citywide graffiti management program.

Here is a couple that was victimized by graffiti on their property. The city contacted them and gave them 10 days to remove the graffiti. Not mentioned in the above article is the almost certain threat of fines and removal costs included in that notification.

Being responsible citizens they apparently set out to comply with the request and turned to their local community resources to find information on possible solutions. A Google search for the phrase “Graffiti in Ottawa” returns the Ottawa Police Department as the first listing. Just as the couple claimed mural creation is one of the recommended prevention strategies.

Below is a copy of the wording in question pulled today from the Police Department website.

Tips to deter graffiti

As a property owner, there are measures you can take to deter graffiti. They include:

• • • Plant vines, shrubs or thorny plants to limit access to walls.
    • Increase lighting and visibility. Consider motion or sensor lights to draw attention to any movement on your property.
    • Move vehicles, dumpsters or other items away from walls and cover pipes to prevent access to the roof or upper levels of a building.
    • Consider a graffiti repellent to protect surfaces against graffiti.
    • Use fences and other barriers to discourage through traffic.
    • Encourage community pride and respect in your neighbourhood and involve youth in community graffiti removal project.
    • Consider adding a mural to your property.
    • Encourage neighbours to look out for each other. Start up a Neighbourhood Watch program in your neighbourhood.

No where in the City Graffiti Bylaws does it say anything about murals only being allowed in commercial and institutional districts.

In fact the bylaws address urban art as shown below:

What about Urban Art?

Public and urban art play an important role in our community and can contribute to community pride and beautification. Graffiti tagging is vandalism – not art. By encouraging residents to make responsible choices when placing art legally in public and private areas, we can maintain the integrity and the beauty of our city. Legal walls, community art programs and mural opportunities are available across the City to support artists and creative expression.

Check out some of these local programs and opportunities:

1. Ottawa School of Art (www.artottawa.ca)

2. House of Paint (http://www.hop.artform.ca/)

So maybe that’s not entirely straightforward you say? It does say that there are legal walls, community art programs and mural opportunities available, but it doesn’t advise anyone to put up a mural on their own property. Okay, that’s fair. How about this excerpt from the City of Ottawa Graffiti Management Program Prevent It page?

• • • To deter graffiti vandals and prevent graffiti from occurring or recurring on your property, there are some simple methods that you can use.
    • Remove any graffiti as soon as it appears. The faster graffiti is removed, the less desirable your property becomes to vandals.
    • Make every effort to keep the appearance of your property clean and neat. Litter, broken fences and overgrown shrubs send a message of indifference, which can attract vandals.
    • Plant vines, shrubs or thorny plants to limit access to walls.
    • Move vehicles, dumpsters and other items away from walls and cover pipes to prevent access to the roof or upper levels of a building.
    • Consider applying a special coating to protect surfaces from potential damage caused by graffiti removal.
    • Design and build structures that are not attractive graffiti targets. Avoid large, smooth and light coloured surfaces.
    • Use fences and other barriers to discourage through traffic near your home or business.
    • Work with community artists to commission a mural on a persistently targeted wall.

If you read the sign bylaws through you will find that all signs including “mural signs” require a permit and that mural signs are only allowed in District 3 & 4 of the city. Based on that when the couple called the City they should have been told that their mural would need a permit. The permitting process likely would have captured the conflict and the permit would have been denied.

However, the City failed to inform the couple that this was not acceptable when they were called to confirm the recommendation given by not one but two departments within the City. So now these property owners must once again spend their money to cover the mural and then repeatedly pay to remove subsequent graffiti on a high traffic surface.

How many times must a property owner be victimized by graffiti? Let’s count up how many times the Awad’s have been the victims so far?

One – When the original graffiti was applied by a vandal

Two – When the City gave them 10 days time to remove the graffiti or face fines and removal costs

Three – When they received recommendations from two local sources for a method that was in direct violation of the city bylaws

Four – When they called the City and were not told that they would need a permit or that murals were not allowed in their district

Five – When they invested $500 in an artist on what they thought was an expert recommended prevention method.

Six – When they have to pay to have the mural covered?

??? – How many more times will the first two victimizations reoccur?

In this case it looks likely that the Awads will be able to keep their mural. The fact that the mural is on their garage door that faces a service alley and the publicity to an embarassing situation were probably considered by the City. This is only one example though. Have you been victimized by graffiti? Tell me you experiences.

Graffiti Expert Carla Thaler’s Background

GRAFFITI 911 – Carla is co-founder and President of GRAFFITI 911, a company devoted to assisting municipalities, businesses, and police agencies with expert services and tools for graffiti eradication, enforcement, and education.

(www.Graffiti911.com)

As one of the nation’s top anti-graffiti experts, Carla Thaler brings a strong background and expert knowledge in graffiti eradication, enforcement, and education.

During the course of her career, her work and study has included:

G.R.I.P. (Graffiti Reduction Identification and Prosecution) – In her duties for the downtown Portland Clean & Safe district she was responsible for the data entry and analysis of graffiti removed in a 212-block area of downtown Portland. Since the programs inception in September of 1999 until she left that position, she entered over 15,000 photographs of graffiti into a specialized database that was maintained in her office. She managed, updated, monitored and maintained this resource.

Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force – Carla has been an active member of the Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force a group of Portland based graffiti abatement and enforcement professionals who meet monthly to discuss graffiti movements in the City of Portland.

She was also an active member of the Acid Vandalism Task Force, a sub-committee of the Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force. In this capacity Carla consulted with the president of Amour Products, makers of Armour Etch and Etch Bath, two commonly used product associated with acid vandalism.

Her consultation with Amour Products led to consulting with the Director for Chemical Research and Development with 3M Corporation. Carla used her background in anti-graffiti to consult, advise, and brainstorm possible solutions concerning the trend of vandals using acid etching products for vandalism.

Graffiti Summit Conference Presenter – Carla was a presenter at the September 2000 Graffiti Summit Conference hosted by the City of Portland. She provided information on the use of the Internet as a resource for graffiti abatement and enforcement.

Seattle Anti-Graffiti Program – Carla has been an active member of the Seattle Anti-Graffiti Program. This program is similar to the Mayor’s Graffiti Task Force.

She has participated in the service of two search warrants in the Seattle jurisdiction. This was a multi-agency effort with participants from Bellingham Police Department, Seattle Police Department Gang Unit, and the Association for Portland Progress. During this warrant service Carla acted as the On-Scene Evidentiary Analyst.

NoGraf Network – Carla has been an active member and past Director of the NoGraf Network. The NoGraf Network, Inc. is a non-profit organization, which links gang and anti-graffiti experts, via the Internet, on 6 continents and in 15 countries. NoGraf members are located in over 60 US municipalities in 23 states. The Network enables information exchange among members as well as archive information at the NoGraf web site.

Through this network, Carla has supervised successful campaigns educating companies of the negative effects of using vandalism or vandalism concepts in corporate advertising or product design. Among the companies Carla had contact with are: NAACP, Scholastic Australia, SEGA, Ecko Limited, Nike, IBM, Microsoft, Target, and Altoids.

Portland Police Bureau – Carla has assisted PPB with numerous search warrants for graffiti crimes including the writing of the warrant and analysis of evidence seized, she has also participated on scene as the on-site evidentiary analyst. She has provided information, analysis, and recommendations to this agency for over three years.

Carla has participated in suspect debriefings with the Portland Police Bureau, as well as provided investigative efforts towards the identification of suspects.

Her efforts for the department have been acknowledged with two commendations.

On April 1^st, 2002 Carla was the recipient of the Chief’s Forum Certificate of

Appreciation for outstanding effort towards community policy. As read during the presentation of the award, “Carla Thaler is being recognized for her work in graffiti abatement. Her efforts have benefited neighborhood district attorneys and police from all five precincts. Her work has been instrumental in the prosecution of several prolific “taggers”. In a recent court case, Ms. Thaler was identified, by the court, as one of two graffiti identification experts in the City of Portland. Ms. Thaler’s efforts toward graffiti abatement have helped make Portland a cleaner and more livable city.”

Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office – Carla has provided expert testimony in a Multnomah County Court Probation Violation Hearing in Judge Schnaufer’s Courtroom.

She has assisted the District Attorney’s Office in case development, prosecution, and/or plea negotiation, and sentencing guidelines for multiple suspects.

Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office - Carla has provided expert analysis on an acid vandalism cases and anticipate working with this agency again in the future

Multnomah County Office of Community Justice – Carla has consulted with the Multnomah County Office of Community Justice, the City of Portland, and other non-profit organizations on the development of a restorative justice model for convicted vandals.

Beaverton Police Department – Carla graduated from the Beaverton Citizen’s Academy, which included a two-hour segment on graffiti, on March 30^th, 2000. She
was also a regular volunteer with the police department and offered recommendations for their graffiti abatement efforts and assist at events.

On April 18^th, 2000 she attended a Graffiti Summit at the Beaverton Police Department

that included approximately 30 graffiti abatement and enforcement professionals from

the metropolitan area. On April 26^th, 2002 Carla received a Certificate of Recognition

from the Beaverton Police Department for her efforts.

“Strategies in Community Policing – In August of 2000, Carla attended an extensive 80 hour training at the Western Community Policing Center in Monmouth. During this training she received intense crime prevention and community policing instruction and was required to complete a comprehensive plan for a combating a community problem of my choice. Carla also presented her plan for anti-graffiti, which included prevention, education, enforcement, abatement, and restorative justice.

“Graffiti Enforcement and Investigation” – In July of 2001, Carla attended an 8 hour course sponsored by the San Bernardino Police Department in San Bernardino, California. During this training she received instruction on graffiti culture, anti-graffiti education, civil restitution, search warrants, intelligence, database management, surveillance, instruments of graffiti and case preparation.

”2002 International Downtown Association Annual Conference – In October 2002 Carla presented at the annual conference for the International Downtown Association. Her presentation focused on the need for aggressive action in response to vandalism.

NYPD Vandal Squad – Carla spent two days with the NYPD Vandal Squad in October 2002 observing their program and methods.

Independent Research – Carla has spent thousands of hours researching graffiti through; anti-graffiti websites, pro-graffiti websites, pro-graffiti newsgroups, news articles, online magazines, and Internet discussion groups. Through this research, she has become expert in graffiti and hip-hop culture and sub-cultures, graffiti application techniques, graffiti styles and individual taggers as well as crews.

Through this ongoing study of the “other side,” Carla has increased her expertise concerning the most effective removal and abatement techniques.

Graffiti Consultant- Because of the above experience cited above, Carla has had the privilege to consult with the following agencies regarding graffiti: Portland Police Bureau, Beaverton Police Department, Seattle Police Department, City of Seattle, City of Portland, Portland State University Public Safety, Tri-Met Transit Police, Bend Police Department, Eugene Police Department, Vancouver Police Department, Tacoma Police Department, Pittsburgh Police Department, Bellingham Police Department, Everett Police Department, Virginia Beach Police Department, City of Casey Australia as well as various agencies throughout the US.