Graffiti Attacked With Reward Offers

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich came up with a new way Thursday to attack graffiti--and become better known to voters in his redrawn district in the process.

Beginning next week, 500 signs will be posted in Antonovich’s 5th District offering rewards up to $1,000 for anonymous tips leading to the arrest and conviction of graffiti scrawlers.

The signs reads, “Reward! If you see or know of someone defacing our city with graffiti, turn ‘em in.” At the bottom are the words: “Sponsored by Supervisor Mike Antonovich.”

In announcing the sign program, Antonovich was joined at a press conference by Bill Brownell, national director of the WeTip crime-reporting hot line.

To aid prosecutors, Brownell urged that people who observe a crime being committed use their video cameras and record it.

Although a number of cities, including Los Angeles, have been offering rewards for people who turn in graffiti vandals, the sign program is new, said Brownell.

“Drug trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry in California,” Brownell said. “Graffiti is its public relations arm.”

The 12-by-18-inch signs give WeTip’s phone number and say, “No one will know who you are, not us, not ever.” Tipsters are assigned codes, which are used to claim rewards.

Antonovich is providing $7,500 from his office budget to pay for the signs. The money comes from $5 million set aside by the five supervisors last year to divide equally among themselves for special projects.

Just in case they are sprayed with graffiti, the signs are coated with a substance that makes it easy to wash off any spray paint, Brownell said.

Antonovich’s 5th District also is the site of a pilot program requiring property owners to remove graffiti or pay county crews for its removal. The district includes parts of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and all of the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys.