Benicia PD Nabs Taggers - Great Job!!

Kudos to Lt. Mike Daley, Officer Sergio Cruz, and the entire Benicia Police Department for a fine job in nabbing these taggers. I hope that all available resources, including taking away the taggers driving privileges and stiff penalties, are sought for these delinquents that have striven to blight our community. We need to demonstrate to other potential vandals that we are serious about enforcement.

Benicia needs a ZERO TOLERANCE policy against graffiti.

My congratulations and thanks to Lt. Daley and his team.

..Ross Sagun


>>> Lt. Mike Daley 4/15/2009 10:49 AM >>>

Following a variety of leads, Benicia Police detectives have identified and interviewed a graffiti "tagger" who has been active in Benicia for over a year. The suspect is a 19 year old Benicia youth. In addition, a 15 year old Benicia youth and another 14 year old Benicia youth have been issued misdemeanor citations for vandalism for separate incidents.

"We have seen graffiti around the city over the past year," Lt. Mike Daley said. "Hopefully this investigation and the arrests we anticipate making will significantly decrease this problem."

Tagging is when an individual marks a particular name or symbol on property. Graffiti is when the suspect draws or paints a design on property.

School Resource Officer Sergio Cruz, who oversees graffiti investigations for the department, developed a lead on the 19 year old suspect and Benicia resident in early March. Based on SRO Cruz's investigation and interviews, it was determined that the this subject had at least two "tags" seen around town - PEWK and GURP along with a "Hard Times", or HT, graffiti marking. It is suspected that this subject has been tagging certain areas of Benicia since the beginning of 2008. "We will be pursuing felony vandalism charges from the District Attorney's Office due to the amount of damage caused by this one person," Lt. Daley said.

"Taggers target certain areas of our town like parks, a tunnel that runs under highway 780, and some of our shopping centers, " Lt. Daley added. "In addition, taggers will mark roadway signs, utility boxes, or anything else they can put their tag or sign on. We think these latest investigations will put a stop to some of the tagging and markings taking place."

The City of Benicia has a pro-active stance in the immediate removal of graffiti. The City has one full time civilian Community Preservation Officer, Roger Core, who works for the Fire Department. However, this officer has worked directly with the police department in documenting graffiti incidents and gaining the cooperation of businesses in its immediate removal. "Roger has done an excellent job in assisting our department with these graffiti investigations," Daley said. "His work with Detective Cruz should lead to the arrest of others committing these crimes."

According to Daley, there are a couple of groups of taggers they would like to obtain information on relative to graffiti crimes. "We are in the process of trying to identity additional groups and taggers around town. We encourage anyone with information on graffiti crimes to contact us and help curtail this problem."

For information on this press release, contact Lt. Mike Daley at (707)590-4259. Anyone with information on graffiti vandals or taggers are asked to contact School Resource Officer Sergio Cruz at (707)746-4253 or Crime Stoppers at (707)644-STOP (7867)

Stakeouts aim to curb graffiti

By Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer 3/18/09

San Francisco officials say they have seen an increase in complaints about graffiti. Examiner file photo SAN FRANCISCO – Police are turning to stakeouts in order to nab graffiti vandals.

The City has seen an uptick in complaints about graffiti, specifically to the 311 call center.

A series of stake-out operations are planned between the California Highway Patrol and the Police Department. The law enforcement agencies are targeting overpasses and freeway signs after a series of bold vandalism incidents on Highway 101.

“It’s costing The City millions,” said Mohammed Nuru, the Department of Public Works deputy director, who oversees graffiti cleanup for The City. “They’re using climbing gear. They’re sophisticated and climbing up sheer surfaces.”

After averaging about 1,400 calls a month, that number climbed in December to more than 3,000. Those calls have continued to roll in at a steady pace, and city officials want to catch the vandals in the act.

Officer Christopher Putz of the San Francisco Police Department’s graffiti unit said he believes the increase is not in graffiti incidents, but in citizen reporting of the vandalism.

Nuru is heading a graffiti task force, which is lobbying to pass even stricter policies regarding graffiti in upcoming months, including a law prohibiting spray-painted vehicles from parking in a residential area and creating a Superior Court position that deals strictly with vandalism cases.

Other cities have installed barbed wire around posts so they are more difficult to climb. Nuru said they hope to catch the recent vandals before turning San Francisco into a “prison yard.”

The hardest-hit areas are the Financial District, SoMa, the Mission and Chinatown, according to authorities. Some neighborhood advocates said they have not noticed the increase.

“I haven’t seen a huge difference than what it was,” said Erick Arguello, who heads the Lower 24th Street Merchant and Neighborhood Association. “It comes and goes, just like crime.”

Keith Goldstein, who heads the Potrero Hill Merchants Association, said he recently followed up on a complaint about graffiti, but didn’t find an increase in his neighborhood.

City officials are also looking to boost the reward amount for information about graffiti vandals.

The City’s Graffiti Rewards Fund typically offers residents $250 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects. However, the reward has been boosted to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who took part in defacing highway signs last weekend on southbound Highway 101 at Third and Bayshore streets.

To apply for the reward, visit www.sfgov.org/dpw or call 311.

Surge in graffiti complaints

From July to November, graffiti complaints to The City’s 311 call center averaged about 1,400 per month.

Month Complaints
December 3,066
January 3,396
February 2,668
Through March 17 1,681

Source: Department of Public Works

bbegin@sfexaminer.com

Cameras help catch graffiti vandals

Arrest in case of Staten Island graffiti vandal caught on camera

Alleged vandal arrested less than a day after video is posted on silive

Saturday, March 14, 2009

By FRANK DONNELLY

STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 15-year-old alleged graffiti vandal was arrested yesterday, less than 24 hours after a video of him defacing a Concord deli was posted on silive.com, the Advance's home on the Web.

Police said those images, captured by high-tech security cameras at My Deli & Grocery on Rhine Avenue, along with other information, helped them track down the suspect.

The video first appeared on silive.com around 2:45 p.m. Thursday and still photos ran in yesterday's Advance.

Authorities did not release the suspect's name, or neighborhood, due to his age. He was charged with single counts of criminal mischief and making graffiti, said Detective Joseph Cavitolo, an NYPD spokesman.

The arrest came on the same day a graffiti scourge from Midland Beach was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay $5,000 restitution. Joseph Battaglia, 19, was accused of plastering his tag, "Rank," or an abbreviated version, "Ra," in 75 different incidents since January 2007. Battaglia pleaded guilty in January to two misdemeanor counts.

"This shows how working together helps make our neighborhoods a better place to live," Hamim (Shah) Syed, who owns My Deli & Grocery, said yesterday. "We appreciate all the work the police and the Staten Island Advance did and we are glad they apprehended the young man who was responsible for the graffiti. While we feel sorry for his parents, we hope he learns a lesson from this experience and chooses a more positive path in the future."

Two weeks ago, Syed installed four video cameras as part of $9,000 spent on renovations, which included repainting the building.

The security cameras allegedly caught the youth in the act of spray-painting an indecipherable tag on the side of the building early Wednesday morning.

The video shows a hooded male with a backpack skulking around the store exterior about 12:45 a.m. After a few cars have passed, he pulls out a can of spray paint and defaces a wall behind an ice box. Then he walks away.

According to Syed, the vandal also sprayed graffiti on the side of the building facing a neighboring business, All Tire Repair Shop, but that crime was committed off-camera.

Meeting scheduled with Benicia Police Department

[meeting postponed until Wednesday,  February 25, 2009]

The Benicia Police Department has offered to meet with me to discuss Benicia's graffiti problem. Here are the issues that I plan to discuss at our meeting today (2-20-09) at 4pm. I will keep you advised of what transpires. Please email me with any other issues or questions that you would like me to raise. My email address is rsagun@sbcglobal.net

..Ross Sagun

2/20/09

Dear Officer Cruz:

Thank you for taking the time to meet with me later this afternoon to discuss Benicia's growing problem with graffiti. I am pleased that the Benicia Police Department has decided to appoint you as our Graffiti Officer.

So that we may make the best use of our time, here is a list of issues that I would like to discuss with you.

1. who is doing the graffiti
   
2. who has been arrested
   
3. who in city government is charged with overseeing the problem/strategy/budget of this problem
   
4. what is the rate of occurrence of graffiti crimes (how many have occurred in 2008 vs 2007)
   
5. what is the criteria for classifying incidents (incident number? How do Roger Core's reports get integrated into the stats?)
   
6. what is the cost of graffiti abatement and enforcement
   
7. what is the budget for graffiti abatement and enforcement
   
8. what is the status of the New Year's Day arrest at BHS
   
9. what happened at the X-Park and what is being done about it
   
10. what is the city's strategy to attack the problem
    
11. where are the graffiti hotspots in Benicia
    
12. when will the xpark be remediated and reopened
    
13. when are graffiti offenses being committed? (e.g. mostly at night?)
    
14. how does the BPD investigate and catalog graffiti offenses
    
15. how does the BPD process graffiti-based evidence (e.g. paint cans located at scenes, graffiti indicating specific names in its content)
    

I would also like to get your feedback on the following ideas:

1. the use of cameras to catch suspects, as other cities have successfully done
   
2. reward system
   
3. tip hotline
   
4. graffiti page on the website
   
5. school information program
   

Thanks again to you and BPD for being responsive to the community's concerns about this problem. I am looking forward to meeting with you later today.

..Ross Sagun