Youth graffiti case may set precedent

By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
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The weekend arrest of two teens on graffiti charges could create new case law on how the courts handle the crime, says a regional councillor.

"This is the key," Coun. Stephen Adams (Spryfield-Herring Cove) said Monday. "This is going to be a case where a lot of measure is going to be done with it. This is going to be the new baseline to determine how we deter this crime."

The councillor was referring to the arrest of two kids inside a tunnel in Cole Harbour on Sunday.

Some Halifax RCMP members on foot patrol smelled paint fumes at the approach to the tunnel near Gregory Drive and went to investigate.

The officers found two boys, 12 and 13, in possession of spray paint standing near some freshly painted graffiti.

The boys were charged with mischief and will appear in court at a later date.

"I’m glad they were arrested," Coun. Adams said. "But now the key is what the Crown and the judge are going to do. I mean, the police can charge these guys until the cows come home. But unless the courts do something, then what’s the sense?"

Over the summer, the city passed a graffiti management plan.

Recently, Mayor Peter Kelly and select regional councillors have taken part in several anti-graffiti sessions in their communities.

On Monday, Mr. Adams took part in an anti-graffiti event at South Centre Mall along with Coun. Linda Mosher (Purcell’s Cove-Armdale). The duo helped unveil a mural, part of a community art pilot project that is an initiative under the graffiti management plan.

About 75 people — including residents, business owners and corporate partners from Spryfield to Armdale — showed up to the event, which featured a daylong clean up of graffiti.

That level of community involvement is crucial, said Ms. Mosher.

"You can’t go down the Herring Cove Road for more than a minute without seeing graffiti," Ms. Mosher said in an interview. She said the unwritten code of ethics among graffitists seems to have "gone out the window."

"There used to be places they wouldn’t do graffiti, like a funeral home," she said of the so-called graffiti tags. "But everywhere I go, I see graffiti and it’s very frustrating."

She encourages people to follow the steps on the city’s graffiti website, such as reporting the crime to the police and removing it from private property.

"I don’t think we can make a dent without . . . community involvement."

With a new management plan, anti-graffiti demonstrations and daylong cleanups, the city is showing the seriousness with which it takes the crime, said Mr. Adams.

"We’ve done our job," he said.

"Now the Crown (attorney) and the judge have to take this seriously," he added.

If they don’t, then all the efforts of regional council and the police have been for nothing, he said.

"We may as (well) just throw it all away if we are not going to get support from that level because that’s where it counts."

For more information on what to do if you see graffiti in your neighbourhood, click on www.halifax.ca/corporate/Graffiti

( apugsley@herald.ca)

With Dan Arsenault, Crime Reporter