City doubles reward on graffiti information, urges people to call in
By JENN KLEIN - Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/29/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT


As part of continuing efforts to get rid of graffiti, city officials are doubling the reward for those who call in information leading to the arrest and conviction of a vandal.
"We're going to continue to elevate our efforts as needed to make a dent in graffiti," Operations and Maintenance Director Ruben Martinez said Wednesday.

Last August the city put into place a graffiti program with a full-time rotating position dedicated to removing and cleaning up any graffiti in the city. Martinez said while in February alone the city cleaned 185 areas with graffiti -- 87 percent within 24 hours of notification -- city workers are finding a lot of the graffiti themselves and see a lot of locations not called in. Martinez is now urging any residents who do see graffiti to call the city's graffiti hotline.

"We really want people to call us. We don't want them to assume someone else has already called in," Martinez said.

He said the city has a computer system that eliminates duplicate graffiti reports so city workers are still able to work efficiently.

General Services Director Dennis Beardsley said the city's graffiti program is not just for public property, but private property. Beardsley said while he's pleased with the

response from the public so far, it's important for people to keep reporting graffiti.
"If people see things, if we know about it, it's going to get taken care of," Beardsley said.

Martinez said the best deterrent to graffiti is immediate eradication. City workers have targeted specific areas that keep getting tagged with graffiti and have found by going back and cleaning up graffiti for several successive days, the tagger gives up. He said that's why it's so important that people call graffiti in when they see it.

"We know eradication is effective but we have to stay on it and we have to know where it's at," Martinez said

To encourage anyone who overhears someone boasting about graffiti -- such as students -- or with knowledge of a vandal, the city is doubling its reward program. Those who call in with information leading to the felony arrest -- where the vandal caused $400 or more in damages -- and conviction of a vandal will receive a $1,000 reward. The city's previous reward was $500.

Beardsley said the goal of the city is to clean up 100 percent of graffiti reports within 24 hours. He said the program is currently at 80 to 95 percent of graffiti cleaned up within that time period.

The city shares the hotline -- which started in 1993 -- with the Butte County Sheriff Department's Team of Active Retired Seniors as a cooperative effort to get rid of graffiti. The Butte County courts also participates in the graffiti eradication program.

Beardsley said getting rid of graffiti is important to the pride of the community.

"Rather than allow it to proliferate the City Council has said we want to make it our priority," Beardsley said. "It tends to grow if not addressed."

Martinez said the city is also in the process of compiling statistics on graffiti in Chico through the database the program is creating.


Staff writer Jenn Klein can be reached at 896-7767 or jklein@chicoer.com.