http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/446474
October 07, 2008
Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 7, 2008)
Make no mistake: graffiti enforcement has kicked into overdrive in Hamilton and it's in part thanks to fed-up residents.
Over the past several weeks, police have arrested eight graffiti artists for spreading their work around the city and officials have no intention of curbing the blitz.
At least five of those arrests were linked to tips from citizens.
"There has been a heightened awareness of graffiti and the costs that it has on the community," said Hamilton police Crime Prevention Co-ordinator Sergeant Marty Schulenberg.
For the past three summers, graffiti has been targeted through the Graffiti Prevention Strategy, a partnership of several organizations. Tackling graffiti has also been identified as a strategic objective for police in 2009.
This was the last year for the GPS program.
Hamilton police are now working with the Crown attorney's office to try to get tags recognized in court as a person's signature would be, a move that would allow multiple tags to be attributed to the same person and increase the number of charges against them.
The Hamilton Crown attorney's office declined to comment on how tags factor in criminal charges.
It's estimated the cost of removing graffiti in the city tops $250,000 annually.
A particularly damaging type of graffiti -- known as acid etching -- is also continuing to wreak havoc.
First spotted in Hamilton last year, acid etching burns graffiti into glass surfaces, such as bus shelters.
Mountain Councillor Terry Whitehead said it seems every bus stop he passes in his ward has been hit with graffiti in some way. "There's a lot more than can be tolerated in my ward and I'm sure that's the case right across the city."
Hamilton police said studies have shown the most effective way to combat graffiti is to remove it within 12 hours.
At a test wall in Beasley Park over the summer, 24 tags were painted over and only four had reappeared six days later. After wiping those out, only one tag graced the wall 21 days after the initial cleaning.
In Winnipeg, the city has been running a free graffiti-removal program for the past 10 years. Property owners are able to get a voucher for a free can of paint and other supplies after reporting graffiti to police.
"We just see that it's an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed," said Robert Okabe, supervisor of public service operations with the city of Winnipeg.