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- Experimental "free zones."
- Government and the law.
- Art, Crime, and Society Values
- How do communities respond to graffiti?
- Fundamentals: The Truth Has a Way of Making Itself Obvious
- What about business owners and graffiti?
- Obstructionists Inhibit abatement through encouragement of graffiti vandalism.
- What about graffiti damage and the effects of graffiti?
- What are some controversial approaches?
- How do you catch or discourage the vandal?
- What are some hazards of cleaning graffiti?
- Who do you call?
- The Vandal Underground: Who does graffiti?
- What is "deceit think? How can the press and the rest of us be deceived?"
- Are there "civilized crimes?"
- What about the graffiti advocates claims of censorship?
- How do the vandal's parents feel? What do they know?
- Profile of a tagger
- What about joining an Anti-Graffiti Organization?
- Why is graffiti so abhorrent to the anti-graffiti activist?
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Some states still don't get it. They can't see the forest for the trees. Despite the horrific damage graffiti vandals do some states can't enact laws that make public vandalism a serious crime. The lobbyists against laws that allow police to make multiple misdemeanors a single felony count are self serving legal groups and in some cases - actual city and county governments. A recent case in California where a vandal was caught with 30 or more acts of vandalism amounting to over $90,000 was tried on ONE lousy misdemeanor and fined a miserable $1500. Where is the justice in that? The truth is the public doesn't know - yet. Californians mark my words. The time is come for an initiative that MANDATES vermin like this be tried as felons. They must also be held accountable for the damage they cause down to the last cent.
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Pacific Grove,
California has a community oriented zero tolerance approach
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- Teach about anti-graffiti in the middle school DARE program.
- Educate the community.
- Educate stores who sell markers and paint sticks, about what kind of tools graffiti taggers use to make their mark.
- Get the community involved.
- Identify and Prosecute offenders.
- Develop a graffiti abatement ordinance.
- Get people to report graffiti for tracking - even if they do (thank you!) clean it up themselves.
- Involve the School Resource Officer in Graffiti prevention.
- Use volunteer groups to inventory and identify all sites with graffiti in the city.
- When graffiti shows up on public utilities (pay phones, poles, power transfer boxes) notify the appropriate utility for clean up.
- The police keep a "piece book" of taggers and their work and monikers.
- Work with other cities specialists to help train our officers in gang related graffiti markings and monikers - Particularly cities with previous experience in this area.
- Frequent patrol of problem areas.
- Planned Citizens Police Academy w/discussion in one block of specific issues, i.e., graffiti, shoplifting
- Vigilance is a key factor in abatement.
- Have graffiti reporting numbers.
- Ask the community to report crimes in progress via 911.
- Document all graffiti cases with a criminal report and photographs whenever possible. And: If someone sees graffiti , citizens are encouraged to clean graffiti and to take a picture for the police. The stylized writing and moniker just might identify the person responsible!
- Report all graffiti to the police.
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