Fast erasing deters graffiti 'taggers'
Mercyhurst students present results of 10-week study to city task force

BY GEORGE MILLER
george.miller@timesnews.com



Published: November 14. 2008 12:01AM
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Quick removal of graffiti is its most effective deterrent.


That was one of the key findings of a 10-week-long study conducted by five Mercyhurst College intelligence studies students.

The students, who analyzed graffiti efforts in 32 cities, presented the results Thursday afternoon to the city of Erie's Graffiti Task Force, which was formed early this year by Mayor Joe Sinnott.

Mark Omniewski, a student who helped prepare the report and who outlined results to the task force, said the rapid removal is the easiest and cheapest way to prevent graffiti.

He said it discourages "taggers."

"If they spend the effort and energy to go out and tag a wall and it's taken down immediately, it just kind of goes against what they are trying to do," he said. "It renders their work pointless."

Omniewski said that the least effective way to combat graffiti is to create legal graffiti walls.

"From the cities we looked at, we decided that doesn't work," he said. "It usually attracts more graffiti and sends a sign that graffiti is OK."

Fines are also likely to be effective, if implemented the right way, he said.

"You want to make sure you're not making a victim out of the property owner," he said.

Many cities with fines offer free removal if reported quickly to the city, he said. Fines are only implemented if the property owner ignores the graffiti and doesn't report it.

Other methods analyzed by the study included the use of murals; education; barriers, such as bushes; lighting; motion sensors; and spray paint regulations.

Sinnott, who attended the meeting, said the students did "excellent work," and added that they presented some possible solutions for the city to consider.

"There are a series of different combative measures, each of which have different levels of effectiveness that can be looked at to be utilized under different circumstances," he said.

He said graffiti is not a huge problem in the city.

"I do think it's something we need to address," the mayor said. "There definitely is graffiti and it's visible."

Police Chief Steve Franklin, who also attended the meeting, said the Mercyhurst analysis is part of the overall effort to thwart graffiti.

"What we have here is exactly what we need," he said. "We have a team effort. I think we'll make some progress on it."

Erie 3rd Ward District Judge Tom Carney, the task force's chairman, said the committee already had been looking at some of the study's recommendations.

"Mercyhurst brings us an opportunity to refine those ideas and give us some better direction," he said.

Besides Omniewski, the students who prepared the report were Tom Dennstedt, Kyle Horvath, Beth O'Neil and Ashley Pastor.

They prepared the report as their senior "capstone" project under Kristan Wheaton, assistant professor of intelligence studies.

David J. Grabelski, assistant professor at the Institute for Intelligence Studies at Mercyhurst, is a Graffiti Task Force member and had suggested the study.

GEORGE MILLER can be reached at 870-1724 or by e-mail.