Anti-Graffiti Task Force Hits Its 1st Target

A 16-year-old Reseda boy, accused of spray-painting his graffiti name on hundreds of locations in the San Fernando Valley, was arrested Thursday as the first suspect ensnared by a new task force that uses volunteers to document graffiti vandalism.

The boy, whose identity was not revealed because he is a juvenile but who used the tag name “DEN,” was arrested at his home when police officers arrived with a search warrant based largely on evidence provided by members of the Community Tagger Task Force, Deputy Los Angeles Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker said.

At the home, police said, they found evidence linking the boy to the vandalism, including “DEN” marked on the home’s front curb and back door, on furniture and property in the boy’s bedroom ranging from his hats and shoes to his deodorant stick.

The boy had even tagged trash found in the house.

Detectives took down a wall hanging depicting the Seven Dwarfs and found the boy’s tag name covering the back.

“This kid is no Snow White,” Kroeker said. “He is a vandal.”

Police say they will seek felony vandalism charges today against the teen-ager, who is on probation for automobile theft.

While the police were at the youth’s home, two other teen-agers suspected of being taggers on a smaller scale arrived and were taken into custody.

Police said they would also seek charges against the other two teen-agers.

Police and City Councilwoman Laura Chick used the arrests to trumpet the value of the task force, which has involved about 300 volunteers.

The group subsists solely on donations from businesses and individuals to pay for film and other equipment.

At a press conference in front of a closed department store that had been tagged with “DEN” at least 25 times, Kroeker said the investigation and arrest were examples of a new way to attack the graffiti problem.

“This is the successful culmination of an investigation into a very active tagger,” Kroeker said. “All of this began with the formation of the Community Tagger Task Force.”

Police say graffiti vandalism is a highly underreported crime.

Task force volunteers take photographs and make reports of graffiti in their neighborhoods--whether on their property or not--to reserve officers, who coordinate the information.

Repeat taggers are referred to detectives, who attempt to identify them.

In the DEN case, task force members filed reports on 25 different incidents of vandalism that occurred over the last two months.

Damage from those incidents was estimated at $20,000.

Police declined to reveal what linked the tag marks to the boy who was arrested, but said it was clear when they searched his house that they had the right person.

“He had tagged his own house,” said Detective Craig Rhudy, who heads the task force.

Police found cans of spray paint and Magic Markers in the boy’s bedroom. Rhudy said that when the boy was confronted with such evidence, he admitted he was DEN.

It was not known Thursday what the significance of the word is to the youth.

Most arrests for graffiti previously occurred when officers or citizens witnessed the tagger at work. With the task force, a circumstantial case was built.

“This is the same process we’ve used for all kinds of crimes,” Rhudy said. “But it hasn’t been used for graffiti because the manpower wasn’t there. Now the task force is supplying that.”

If convicted of responsibility in the 25 tagging incidents, the youth could receive a six-month sentence in a work camp, Rhudy said.

But he said the incidents cited in the investigation are clearly only a small part of the damage.

“We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of tags with this kid,” Rhudy said. “You can go down Sherman Way and find his tag on every tree. . . . He was out bombing--putting his name wherever he could. He wanted to make a name for himself with other taggers.”

Police said the boy’s tag mark was often accompanied by the letters “CTY” or “INF,” which represent tagging crews he belonged to. They stand for Can’t Tell You and Insanity Never Fails.

Police said the boy is a school dropout who is unemployed and “lived to tag” at night.

The boy’s parents told officers they could not control him--a problem Kroeker said could be at the root of graffiti proliferation in the Valley.

“I don’t condemn them but the fact is parents need to know where their kids are in the middle of the night,” he said.

Kroeker added that graffiti is a major crime concern to Valley residents.

“We have a community that is sick and tired of having to go back and clean up after this sort of thing,” he said. “People are upset.”

Stephen Getzoff, an Encino accountant who is part of the task force, agreed.

“The reason we are doing this is that we just feel it is time to take our city back,” he said.

* WAR ON GRAFFITI: Mayor Riordan signs into law a measure establishing fines of up to $1,000 for taggers. A22