Is graffiti vandalism increasing
Published: Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006


Editor: The gist of the July 26 article on vandalism in Petaluma is that the volume or level of vandalism has not really changed. Certainly, this is borne out by the police statistics included with the piece. The police spokesperson observed, “I haven’t seen an increase, but have noticed more vocal opposition to these acts, insisting that they be stopped.”

With respect to graffiti vandalism, however, I submit that we don’t know whether the level of activity has stayed the same or increased.

First, based on four years of street “experience,” I can report that many graffiti crimes are not reported. This graffiti remains in place until a property owner deals with it or a clean-up volunteer, from PEG (Petalumans Eradicating Graffiti) or elsewhere, takes care of it.

Next, while police records clearly reflect graffiti vandalism reported to them, there is no accounting for graffiti reported to the graffiti hotline. The hotline is administered by PEG, not the police department nor city staff, and serves to direct PEG in their clean-up activities.

Finally, PEG volunteers work independently and are not required (nor do they as a matter of practice) report graffiti tags or abatement to the police.

In short, there is no central source for graffiti statistics in term of the number of incidents and the level of abatement activities. Nothing said here is intended, nor should it be taken, as a criticism of PEG or the Police Department. It is intended only as a description of the situation regarding graffiti documentation as we understand it.

Consequently, PINS is trying to come up with an objective means of measuring the ongoing impact of graffiti and the effect, if any, of the new graffiti ordinance.

Frank Simpson, Petaluma