HEMET - Take a close look around town and you can't miss it.

Graffiti.

It's spray painted on buildings, homes, cars, alleys, fences, signs and even on the sidewalk.

"Graffiti is vandalism," Hemet City Manager Steve Temple said. "Those responsible for painting gang signs, territory boundaries, tagger art are all guilty of vandalism."

This week, the city attempted to jump start an ongoing program that pays $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone caught painting or writing graffiti on public or private property day or night. The program has been going on two years but only $2,000 has been paid out.

The program, which seeks to remove graffiti the same day it's reported, costs about $8,000 a month for staff power, supplies and equipment, Temple said.

Police say graffiti can be vulgar and may contain threats against other gangs or officers. Graffiti is mostly seen in low-income neighborhoods such as near the Crestwood Apartments near Elk Street and Rosalia Avenue, police said.

Cpl. Butch Newman of the Hemet Police's Crime Suppression Unit said there seems to be more graffiti during the summer when school is out.

"Normally, it picks up about this time until the end of summer, as does the gang activity that goes hand and hand with it," Newman said. "It's hard to say why, but there is no school and maybe they have more time on their hands."

Police Lt. Rob Webb said the graffiti problem is not unique to Hemet.

"As is the case with most cities in Southern California, we do have graffiti in Hemet," said Webb, who served the first graffiti-related search warrant in the city in 1995 in which three teenagers were arrested in connection with 48 separate victims. "Our officers will continue to work diligently and arrest anyone who is spraying graffiti, and we will have it taken down as soon as possible."

In Riverside, tips that lead to prosecuting vandals pay up to $250. In Temecula, that information can pay between $100 and $500.

Hemet resident Cecilia Salazar, who found graffiti on her car recently, said the problem is out of control.

"It's everywhere and really brings the neighborhood down," said Salazar, who lives near Devonshire and Hamilton avenues. "I hate looking at it."