Van Nuys : Police to Honor Tagger Task Force

They don’t carry guns or handcuffs. They don’t make arrests. Most of them are beyond retirement age for law enforcement jobs.

Yet, members of the Van Nuys-based Community Tagger Task Force have been credited with significantly reducing Valley tagging incidents since the group was created in 1993.

Today they will be honored for their work by the Los Angeles Police Department at an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at the Japanese Gardens, Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, 6100 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys. City Atty. James Hahn will be the keynote speaker at the event.

“The whole emphasis is just to thank these folks,” LAPD Officer Jerry Beck said. “What they do is assist the police in an invaluable way.”

The task force has about 80 members who go through the time-intensive chore of photographing and filling out mountains of paperwork on graffiti found in their communities.

Their elaborate documentation allows police to link taggers to multiple vandalism incidents and obtain more serious convictions.

“They work very hard,” Beck said. “I’m estimating a 35% reduction in graffiti since they’ve been active.”

The group’s efforts have led to the conviction of at least four adults and 17 youths for vandalism, police said.

Earlier this year, a 16-year-old convicted tagger on probation was rearrested when task force members recognized he was using a new graffiti tag and successfully linked him with earlier offenses, according to police.

Beck said the group’s vigilance has earned respect from the Police Department, and even some of the vandals.

“I’ve found that most taggers--the hard-core ones that have done a lot of damage--are saying, ‘You guys are now out there looking for us,’ ” Beck said. “Word travels in that community very fast.”