Graffiti

* Regarding the graffiti problem:

Could not a “sting” operation be set up whereby an open public wall space is closely monitored either by the Los Angeles Police Department or private security attendants?

The private operatives could not, perhaps, make a citizen’s arrest, but they could take photographs of the offenders in action, thus making them easier to identify. A van parked nearby could easily serve as a monitor’s post.

Repeatedly obliterating the ugliness of graffiti is much better than leaving it where it is inscribed, but it will never solve or stop the problem.

Apprehension and punishment might.

STEVE ALLEN

Van Nuys

* The recent talk of prosecuting “taggers” as felons brings to mind the graffiti I saw when in Europe not too long ago. Wall writings were almost as prevalent there as in Los Angeles, but one difference was significant: The graffiti in France, Italy and Greece were without noticeable exception political in nature.

Compared to European youth, our teen-agers are disturbingly uninvolved in the very process that has helped render their generation so hopeless and so desperate for recognition that they believe that scrawling one’s nickname in public is the best validation of individuality available.

But what else could be expected in a society that shows more concern for its beautiful billboards, concrete overpasses, stucco walls and crystal temples than for its younger generation?

KEN BASH

Malibu