For teens the writing is on the wall
BY EMILY C. DOOLEY
SPECIAL TO NEWSDAY


They go by names like Reso, Upsurd and Capo.

Tagging teens and twentysomethings in Selden and Port Jefferson Station have been spraypainting their signs and graffiti on fences, movie theaters and businesses.

More than 25 sites in all have been hit since summer, and undercover officers from the Suffolk Police Department's Sixth District anti-crime/gang unit estimate the damage to be between $35,000 and $50,000.

"They just don't get it," said Gabor, an undercover officer who asked that his last name not be used. "They don't realize how much damage they are doing."

Sixth Precinct officers last month arrested nine teenagers -- eight of them under age 16 -- based on graffiti found at 25 locations in Selden and Port Jefferson Station. The teenagers collectively face five felony criminal mischief charges and 38 misdemeanor vandalism charges.

Suffolk police say the local graffiti is not the result of gang members marking territory, but rather a group of people who see it as artistic adventuring. Some are solo taggers while others belong to tagging crews, such as TNT, which stands for True Night Taggers, or ATB, All Time Bombers.

They have their own lingo: A "throw up" is a quick job, done with marker or paint pen. A "bomb" consists of bubble letters filled in with paint. And a "mural" is an elaborate design, with multiple colors and a background.

Some taggers -- as graffiti artists are often called -- send out online invites for people to tag along with them or check out their work, police said.

"They're out marking so that they see their stuff and other people see their stuff," Gabor said during a tour of some of the graffiti sites. "Unfortunately, it's very malicious."

Among the nine defendants, only one case will be handled in adult court while the remaining underage crew will go before family court where the focus is more on rehabilitation than punishment, police Sgt. Anthony M. Prudenti said.

Andrew Brennan, 16, of Port Jefferson Station, faces one count of possession of a graffiti instrument and 10 counts of making graffiti. Conviction for possession carries a term of up to 90 days in jail. A conviction for making graffiti could mean up to 1 year in jail. Victims can also seek restitution.

Vandals, including one who goes by the tag Mace, hit Journeytime Trailers in Selden, marking up a $50,000 recreational vehicle. It took owner Jerry Cibulski two days to remove the design and replace damaged decals hurt by primer paint. It cost him $1,670, money that came out of his own pocket, Cibulski said.

"If I turned it in to insurance, my insurance rates would go skyrocketing," he said.

One of the tagging nine was arrested in that case; another is still at large, police said.

"They do it on buildings here a lot," Cibulski said.

The graffiti began as a small problem, dotting a few traffic signs. But then it grew and tags showed up on signs, traffic markers, businesses and residential properties, said Genevieve, another officer in the anti-crime/gang unit. Officials asked that her last name also be kept private.

Initially brought in to determine if it was gang activity, the unit scanned the Internet searching for local graffiti artists. They looked at surveillance video and talked to local kids. Officers also hid in bushes watching the teens tag, and they served search warrants at their homes.

Of 50 graffiti cases, about 45 have been closed by arrest, Prudenti said. Upsurd, used by Brennan, has not been active, police said. But some new tags are similar in style to old taggers, so police think old suspects are still out there.