Agencies and locals fight graffiti

Tara Brite
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 22, 2006 12:00 AM


Graffiti is continuing to flourish around the Valley, and anti-graffiti agencies are finding that teamwork is the only way to stop it.

From a new anti-graffiti brochure to a resident-run anti-tagging program, organizations throughout the metro area are teaming to fight the problem.

Detective Sgt. Mike Donovan of the Surprise Police Department said graffiti is a major issue in every Valley city. advertisement

"There are lots of kids running around tagging objects," Donovan said. "They feel there's nothing better to do in life. It's a problem everywhere."

"I've seen a steady increase in graffiti over 20 years," El Mirage resident Linda Kleiner said. "I found that no one was doing anything, short of painting over it."

Winning the fight against graffiti takes teamwork, Donovan said.

The Surprise Police Department has designed a new anti-graffiti brochure featuring information from all the law enforcement agencies that handle graffiti. This brochure will be available at locations around Surprise, and will be passed out at schools, Donovan said.

Surprise police also formed a graffiti initiative that provides paint to property owners who cannot physically or financially bear the burden of covering graffiti on their property, he said.

But the Police Department cannot always work with private properties and homeowners associations, Donovan added. That's why Kleiner formed the organization Together Against Graffiti in September 2005, so the cities, police departments and residents could work together to fight graffiti.

"(Kleiner) recognized the city could only do so much," Donovan said. "Citizens need to get involved."

TAG works like a Block Watch program, where residents look out for graffiti and cover it in conjunction with the police department. The program began in El Mirage, but has since spread to Surprise, Goodyear, Sun City and Youngtown.

"Rather than everyone working in separate ways, we all joined as one," Kleiner said. "Working as a team helped."

El Mirage has seen a 97 percent reduction in graffiti in one year, and Surprise has seen an 85 percent reduction in about nine months, Kleiner said.

"No one ever thought they could fight graffiti," she said. "Most people thought it was gang related and were afraid to fight it."

But of the 40 arrests stemming from TAG's work, only three involved gang members. Most were just kids, ranging in age from 12 to 19, with time on their hands.

"They're just bored kids who think it's not big deal to do it until they get caught," Kleiner said.

To help catch taggers, TAG teamed with the Phoenix Community Alliance to offer a $250 reward to anyone who calls the graffiti hotline with a successful tip.

"A kid will turn in their own brother for $250," Kleiner said.

Seventeen of TAG's arrests have been made through the hotline, reachable at (602) 262-7327.

The TAG program won the 2006 Graffiti Hurts award from Keep America Beautiful for its efforts to keep the Northwest Valley graffiti-free. It also received a motion-detector camera and $1,000.

For more information on TAG, visit togetheragainstgraf fiti.com.