Published: Monday, October 12, 2009
Efforts to fight graffiti pay off in Marysville
MARYSVILLE — Just two years ago, despite a new law and a coordinated effort in town, graffiti was on the rise.
Now that trend has reversed significantly.
In 2008, a total of 719 incidents of graffiti were recorded in the city, according to city parks staff. Cleanup cost $12,000.
This year, through the end of September, the number of incidents was only 216. If the trend holds, the city by year's end will have seen the number of graffiti incidents drop more than twofold.
The reason?
Police have done special emphasis patrols. People are reporting incidents to the city online, enabling crews to paint over graffiti quickly. Surveillance cameras in parks are catching taggers in the act. City officials have been speaking at schools.
Officials and others say the anti-graffiti efforts are paying off.
“It has seemed to die down,” said Lisa Anderson, business services director for the Marysville YMCA at 6420 60th Drive NE.
“I've live in this area and for a period of time it seemed like we had lots of graffiti going on around the Y, on a lot of the fences that line the perimeter of the main streets,” Anderson said. “I haven't seen that in some time.”
The city spent $8,000 cleaning up graffiti in 2006, and each year after about $12,000 was spent.
A year ago this month, Marysville police assigned four officers to a special graffiti patrol, said Cmdr. Robb Lamoureaux, who oversees graffiti enforcement for the department.
Between September 2008 and June 2009, police made 64 arrests for graffiti, Lamoureaux said. Figures for the previous year weren't immediately available, but that total represents a significant increase, he said.
Since June, about 25 more arrests have been made, Lamoureaux said.
In addition to the special patrol, the police have two officers assigned to the city's three middle schools and one alternative high school.
The officers talk to kids, hear things and see things, Lamoureaux said, such as a particular graffiti style scrawled on a notebook. Often, it matches a tag somewhere around town. Sometimes, officers have questioned someone they suspected and that person has confessed and been arrested, the commander said.
The police also recently added a crime analyst who keeps a database on different types of misconduct, including by graffiti perpetrators.
When people in town have used the city's on-line graffiti reporting tool, police sometimes recognize the style, and “we're able to go right away and make an arrest,” Lamoureaux said. It also helps get the graffiti cleaned up quickly, considered an important deterrent.
Other times, cameras have caught people in the act of spraying paint in parks. Two years ago, cameras were installed at the city's skate park. Last year, cameras were installed at Jennings Park, Ebey Waterfront Park and Comeford Park, parks director Jim Ballew said. The cameras operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Each set of cameras cost about $6,500. This year the cameras at the skate park and Jennings Park were upgraded for a total of about $3,000, Ballew said.
The investment not only has saved staff time and money in cleaning up after graffiti, but it's also dramatically reduced other crime that was happening at some of the parks, such as auto break-ins, he said.
In early 2007, the City Council passed a law requiring anyone who finds graffiti on their property to clean it up within 48 hours. If it's not cleaned up, the city can issue a notice requiring its removal within the next 48 hours. Before, the time limit was 30 days.
The law was intended more to encourage people to clean up graffiti quickly rather than a punitive measure, and it's helped, officials say.
Overall, Lamoureaux said, the key is “all the different city groups communicating with each other.”
City Councilman Jeff Vaughan, the most outspoken member of the council regarding graffiti, said he's happy with the trend. The challenge will be to keep it going, he said.
“Now we just need to keep the proper focus in maintaining our efforts,” Vaughan said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com.
Now that trend has reversed significantly.
In 2008, a total of 719 incidents of graffiti were recorded in the city, according to city parks staff. Cleanup cost $12,000.
This year, through the end of September, the number of incidents was only 216. If the trend holds, the city by year's end will have seen the number of graffiti incidents drop more than twofold.
The reason?
Police have done special emphasis patrols. People are reporting incidents to the city online, enabling crews to paint over graffiti quickly. Surveillance cameras in parks are catching taggers in the act. City officials have been speaking at schools.
Officials and others say the anti-graffiti efforts are paying off.
“It has seemed to die down,” said Lisa Anderson, business services director for the Marysville YMCA at 6420 60th Drive NE.
“I've live in this area and for a period of time it seemed like we had lots of graffiti going on around the Y, on a lot of the fences that line the perimeter of the main streets,” Anderson said. “I haven't seen that in some time.”
The city spent $8,000 cleaning up graffiti in 2006, and each year after about $12,000 was spent.
A year ago this month, Marysville police assigned four officers to a special graffiti patrol, said Cmdr. Robb Lamoureaux, who oversees graffiti enforcement for the department.
Between September 2008 and June 2009, police made 64 arrests for graffiti, Lamoureaux said. Figures for the previous year weren't immediately available, but that total represents a significant increase, he said.
Since June, about 25 more arrests have been made, Lamoureaux said.
In addition to the special patrol, the police have two officers assigned to the city's three middle schools and one alternative high school.
The officers talk to kids, hear things and see things, Lamoureaux said, such as a particular graffiti style scrawled on a notebook. Often, it matches a tag somewhere around town. Sometimes, officers have questioned someone they suspected and that person has confessed and been arrested, the commander said.
The police also recently added a crime analyst who keeps a database on different types of misconduct, including by graffiti perpetrators.
When people in town have used the city's on-line graffiti reporting tool, police sometimes recognize the style, and “we're able to go right away and make an arrest,” Lamoureaux said. It also helps get the graffiti cleaned up quickly, considered an important deterrent.
Other times, cameras have caught people in the act of spraying paint in parks. Two years ago, cameras were installed at the city's skate park. Last year, cameras were installed at Jennings Park, Ebey Waterfront Park and Comeford Park, parks director Jim Ballew said. The cameras operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Each set of cameras cost about $6,500. This year the cameras at the skate park and Jennings Park were upgraded for a total of about $3,000, Ballew said.
The investment not only has saved staff time and money in cleaning up after graffiti, but it's also dramatically reduced other crime that was happening at some of the parks, such as auto break-ins, he said.
In early 2007, the City Council passed a law requiring anyone who finds graffiti on their property to clean it up within 48 hours. If it's not cleaned up, the city can issue a notice requiring its removal within the next 48 hours. Before, the time limit was 30 days.
The law was intended more to encourage people to clean up graffiti quickly rather than a punitive measure, and it's helped, officials say.
Overall, Lamoureaux said, the key is “all the different city groups communicating with each other.”
City Councilman Jeff Vaughan, the most outspoken member of the council regarding graffiti, said he's happy with the trend. The challenge will be to keep it going, he said.
“Now we just need to keep the proper focus in maintaining our efforts,” Vaughan said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439, sheets@heraldnet.com.
Comments
(
