Solar powered cameras target graffiti hotspots

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, September 4, 2006

By JULIE FARREN
The Press-Enterprise


HIGHLAND - At the push of a button, a crane lifted Angel Chenault high above Del Rosa Drive.


Stan Lim / The Press-Enterprise
Angel Chenault, coordinator for the city of Highland's graffiti abatement program, sets up a solar powered surveillance camera outside a liquor store that has frequent problems with graffiti.



Twenty feet above the pavement, Highland's 39-year-old graffiti abatement coordinator secured a solar-powered camera to a street light pole near A&S Liquor.

The motion-sensitive camera was aimed at the store, a frequent graffiti target.

Equipped with an infrared senor, the camera can be set to either begin taking photos immediately when it detects motion, or set up with a 20-second delay.

The delay feature gives any graffiti vandals "time to do their dirty work and get caught," Chenault said.

Since she started using the cameras at various locations in town in July, no vandalism has been captured, she said.

But that doesn't mean the cameras have sat idle, Chenault said.

"I've already had a few pictures," she said. "I've had kids throwing gang signs up to the camera."

The cameras also are equipped with a second deterrent feature.

As soon as motion is detected, a loud voice booms out: "This is a graffiti-free zone."

The city bought two FlashCam-770 cameras last month at a cost of $5,500 each.

They were paid for through a $9,036 grant from the state's Housing and Community Development department and with a $2,000 contribution from the city's redevelopment agency and equipment account, said Diana Vasquez of the city's Planning Department.

Larry Williams, the city's public works manager, said the annual cost for the graffiti abatement program, including salaries, repairs and materials, is $68,745.

One of the cameras is installed at Community Park on Central Avenue and Hibiscus Street. Because Little League games are played there at night, the camera doesn't start operating until after 11 p.m., she said.

The other is a portable camera first set up at an abandoned home at Cypress Street and Palm Avenue, Chenault said. The house had been a graffiti target, she said.

Each week, she moves the camera to a location troubled by crime, she said. Among the spots it has visited are Ninth Street and Victoria Avenue, Ninth and McKinley streets, and Fifth Street and Boulder Avenue.

Chenault installed the camera near A&S Liquor because the store had been hit daily by graffiti.

Owner Kyung Ko, who bought the liquor store three years ago, said vandals paint the front and back of her store repeatedly, usually between 8:30 p.m. and 9 a.m.

Ko said that even though the camera will only be up a week, she hopes it will make a difference.

"I think it will work," Ko said. "At least they think twice before they do it."

Chenault said if she catches someone, she would like to work with the person one-on-one. She wants the culprits to clean up graffiti in the community where they live.

"There's more of a mentoring aspect to it," said Daniel Munoz, a probation officer with the San Bernardino County Probation Department.

He helped Chenault coordinate the graffiti abatement program several months ago, Munoz said.

Most of the youth in the juvenile probation department must perform a minimum 40 hours of community service, Munoz said.

Chenault said she wants graffiti cleanup to be part of the sentence for anyone caught by her cameras.

She said those serving such a sentence would wear a yellow vest with the words "Tagger Rehab Program."

They would work with her for nine hours once a week, using a scrub brush to clean away the graffiti.

"They need to know there's going to be consequences to pay," Chenault said.

Reach Julie Farren at 909-806-3066 or jfarren@PE.com