Make Taggers Clean Up After Themselves : Witnesses Should Snap Pictures, Alert Authorities, Take Initiative Against Vandalism

The Community Tagger Task Force is one of the best examples of citizen initiative against the costly scourge of graffiti vandalism. This San Fernando Valley-based group counts some 300 residents as active members. They have used privately raised funds to photograph taggers in the act and then pass that information on to the police. We can’t think of a better way for residents to help out law enforcement agencies that have too little in the way of manpower and resources to combat the problem.

Now, the city of Lancaster in the Antelope Valley is faced with its own mini-epidemic of spray paint aggravation. Its elected officials are making the reasonable request its citizenry become as actively involved in the fight against graffiti as others are around the region.

Their request is simple enough: Residents should apply a little more vigilance to the problem and quickly contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department when they see taggers in the act of defacing public and private property.

If the folks in Lancaster need any further incentive, we have one. In two years, the amount of graffiti that the city has had to clean up annually has quadrupled, from 203,352 square feet to 852,000, at five times as many locations as in 1991.

Having said that, however, we take issue with the primary punitive response suggested by Lancaster Mayor Arnie Rodio: jail time for convicted taggers.

Wouldn’t it be preferable to force many more of the apprehended taggers to clean up the mess they have created? When taggers are assigned to remove their own vandalism, it takes away a measure of their enjoyment and notoriety. It also saves public and private money that would otherwise be spent on removing graffiti. Incarcerating taggers means that we have to pay twice: once to clean up their mischief, and again to keep them in jail.