COUNTYWIDE : Inmates Proposed to Erase Graffiti

The rising cost of removing spray-paint graffiti in Orange County has prompted one supervisor to propose a first-of-its-kind abatement program that would send County Jail inmates out to clean up the scrawl that mysteriously appears on walls, buildings and park benches.

The jail crews would be on call to clean up graffiti--much of it gang-related--in the county’s 29 cities.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said that cities in the county spend more than $1 million each year to erase graffiti when they could, instead, use that money for more firefighters, police officers and street lights.

He said he will ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to study his proposition to determine whether it is “economically viable” and to “explore the feasibility of the county and the cities working together to stop the proliferation of graffiti.”

Using inmates to remove the graffiti would virtually eliminate labor costs and give sentenced prisoners something to do other than “idly sitting in jail,” Vasquez said.

Under the proposal, the county would adopt a “tough law” imposing jail sentences and stiff fines on repeat graffiti scribes. Such an ordinance would apply only to the unincorporated areas of the county.

Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said his department would cooperate in a study. He noted that the county’s Environmental Management Agency already uses minimum-security crews for various work projects and possibly these same crews could be used to remove graffiti.

In addition, the plan--which could be studied up to six months--would call on more involvement from homeowners, the business community and schools to deal with the growing problem of graffiti.

“Whether graffiti is gang-related or simply an individual activity, it has serious negative impacts upon our communities,” Vasquez said. “My principal concern is the proliferation of graffiti on public buildings and walls, but the problem also extends to both private businesses and family residences.”

In Santa Ana alone, he said, the cost of removing the scribbling has jumped in one year from $390,000 to $600,000. “That is too much money being diverted from worthwhile programs,” he said. He noted that gangs use graffiti as a means of communicating death threats. “If we remove the graffiti quickly, we will disconnect the communications,” Vasquez said.