Faster, better…

Jay Evenson of the Deseret News in the Salt Lake City area wrote an opinion against tagging he had recently seen on freeway signs and asked what others are doing about tagging: Jay Evensen’s perspectives on the news. He asked, “Anyone out there have a better idea for countering taggers?” I offered this advice:

Absolutely. Join the anti-graffiti movement. There are a few places you can go for more information. The best is NoGraffiti.com. NoGraf membership includes victims of graffiti, police, city, county, and corporations from around the world. Global unity against vandalism. Like you I was furious when in my own community I found gang graffiti everywhere. That was in 1995. My own website dougweb.com started the NoGraf mailing list which later grew into the Nograf Corporation under California Highway Patrol Officer (ret) Randy Campbell.

The best thing a community can do is to increase public awareness, be the eyes and ears of the police and report what is seen. The various jurisdictions need to abate the damage quickly and the media should NEVER publish pictures of the vandalism. That in itself is seen as a victory for the tagger.

Read the Anti-Graffiti FAQ at http://www.dougweb.com/faq.html

Oh, and do keep writing about vandalism. As odd as it may seem some communities are defining deviancy down by calling graffiti a “lifestyle crime.” Not much in the way of enforcement gets done because of the other priorities. Send someone from your community to TAG2009 in Victoria BC, Canada. You will learn a lot there.

Related DougWeb posts:

1. KSBW.com Central Coast News: Group Edits Graffiti to Shame Gangs I do not recommend this. It does amplify the community...
2. Graffiti: The News Is Not Good Is anyone reading the latest news about graffiti vandalism? The...
3. ABC7NEWS.COM: Urban Art Has Hidden Beauty ABC TV channel 7 in San Francisco did this video...
4. BBC News: Pupils help cut down graffiti (BBC News Sunday, March 8, 2009) – Children at a...
5. Jim Powers, the Man Who Called Me Coach Today I learned that that the man who called me...
6. Are YOU a Graffiti Victim? What has changed in the thirteen years since DougWeb got...
7. Granting Interviews for the Anti-Graffiti Cause I get the occasional request from college students, Internet magazines,...
8. Visual Pollution Technologies Signs Up VPT signed up to support the NoGraf Network for another...
9. Northern California Graffiti Conference a Big Success (Santa Rosa, CA., DougWeb, 073108) Over three hundred persons including...
10. Gray Ghost of New Orleans Busted! Gray Ghost of New Orleans (anti-graffiti artist responsible for ruining...

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