CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : ANAHEIM : Undercover Police Arrest 17 Taggers

Anaheim police arrested 17 suspected graffiti vandals during a Friday morning sweep, ending an investigation in which officers infiltrated tagging groups at two Anaheim high schools. Two officers posed as students, attending classes, doing homework and going with taggers--even participating at times--as they marked freeway signs, walls and homes, police said. The arrests were part of the largest single sweep targeting suspected taggers in Orange County. “The Anaheim Police Department wanted to make a statement,” Lt. Ted Labahn said. Tagging “isn’t neat, it isn’t pretty, it is plain and simple vandalism of another’s property.” Fifty-five officers fanned out early Friday in Anaheim, Fullerton and Yorba Linda to arrest the teen-agers, who ranged in age from 14 to 18. Five other people were arrested on unrelated charges and at least six weapons, dozens of marking pens and etching devices and a small amount of drugs were confiscated.