TUCSON - Graffiti. The scrawled messages are ugly, scary, bad for tourism and business - and they're on the rise in Tucson by nearly 10 percent, according to one account.

Michelle Phillips, executive director of the Graffiti Abatement Program in Tucson, said reports to the program last fiscal year rose by 8.2 percent to 36,478 sites from 33,700 in fiscal 2002. The city's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

Graffiti penalties range from 24 hours in jail to 2 1/2 years in prison. Selling spray paint to a minor is a civil offense carrying a $200 fine, which grows in $300 increments for subsequent offenses within a one-year period.

From September 2001 to the end of June 2003, 967 graffiti cases were reported to police. Officers solved 93 of those.

Phillips said arrests are few "because it's a 17-second crime."

Figures on graffiti prosecutions were not available from the Pima County Attorney's Office. County Attorney Barbara LaWall said such cases are classified as criminal damage, which includes other offenses that could not be separated from graffiti cases.

Senior Assistant City Attorney Alan Merritt said between Feb. 13, 2002 and April 28, 2003, his office prosecuted nine graffiti cases. Three defendants were offered plea agreements and pleaded guilty to criminal damage. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the other six when they failed to appear for trial.

"It's very damaging," LaWall said. "To me, it's horrifying to see buildings defaced and private property defaced."

Phillips said it "has a tremendous effect. It almost determines the well-being of a city." Phillips added that it can affect the quality of life for residents, determine whether tourists will return, and influence where people feel safe shopping.

Detective Timothy Rupel, a graffiti expert with the Tucson Police Department's special investigations section, said, "We see it and it bothers us . . . it really is a blight."

"When you're walking in your area and there's graffiti around, there's a feeling you're not safe," Phillips said.

After all, added LaWall, many people see it and think, "This is a sign of gangs. Who else would do graffiti?"

Phillips said that gang graffiti makes up about 10 percent of Tucson's total. The rest is the work of taggers.

Gang graffiti is done to mark turf, to serve as a warning against encroaching on another group's territory. Taggers spray paint graffiti more as a means of seeking recognition for their tagging ability, Rupel said. Some have labeled such graffiti, which can be elaborate and multicolored, as a form of street art.

At times, taggers will band together into tagger mobs, pick an area and do as much tagging as they can without getting caught, a practice known as "bombing," Rupel said. Their work often can be seen on train cars, known as a "rolling exhibit," Rupel said.

Cleaning up after vandals falls to the Graffiti Abatement Program.