The city of New York is continuing its fight against graffiti with arrests almost doubling in the past year.
As of last Sunday (November 6), police records show that there have been 2,230 graffiti arrests in New York City, up from 1,154 during the same period last year, a 93.2% increase.
"The doubling indicates how serious we take it," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told New York's Daily News. "The handwriting's on the wall. Vandals will be identified and arrested."
Back in October 2004, the NYPD gave 150 digital cameras to police coordinators in every precinct to survey vandalism and figure out patterns. Similar to Compstat, which records major crimes, Graffistat now breaks down arrests and complaints by precinct.
Thus far, approximately 700 arrested graff artists and samples of their tags have been stored in a database. Therefore, when their signatures are discovered, they can be arrested.
"They graffiti everything - storefronts, fences, mailboxes, ambulances, fire-alarm boxes," said Citizens Against Graffiti Everywhere (CAGE) founder Fred Kress. "If you stood still on a corner long enough, you would be graffitied."
Kress' group launched a month ago and already counts 300 members. Meanwhile, City Councilman Peter Vallone recently launched his own anti-graffiti campaign and has a short fuse regarding the "so-called art." "These thugs destroy property for the notoriety," Vallone told the Daily News.
Prior to the Graffistat campaign, cops only took mug shots of vandals if they committed a felony. The department has now changed its policy and photographs every suspect for a database that can be accessed by any precinct. Furthermore, a "worst of the worst" list of NY's 100 most wanted graff artists was recently sent to all New York precincts.
Authorities are stressing to take graffiti seriously. The NYPD recently formed the Citywide Vandals Task Force, an 80-member plainclothes unit comprised of two NYPD vandalism squads. The task force patrols streets and subway stations for graffiti and the artists. The unit go as far as to follow the artists in hope to catch them red-handed.
According to police, surveillance cameras have also resulted in multiple arrests. Authorities also think the bulk of tags are being done by young men who simply want to see their name in big letters rather then gangs. This year's statistics show that 1,228 of the offenders were 17 and younger while 1,002 were 18 or older. Cops are also working with youth officers who teach students about the repercussions of tagging and school agents who give information about teens tagging school property.
As of last Sunday (November 6), police records show that there have been 2,230 graffiti arrests in New York City, up from 1,154 during the same period last year, a 93.2% increase.
"The doubling indicates how serious we take it," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told New York's Daily News. "The handwriting's on the wall. Vandals will be identified and arrested."
Back in October 2004, the NYPD gave 150 digital cameras to police coordinators in every precinct to survey vandalism and figure out patterns. Similar to Compstat, which records major crimes, Graffistat now breaks down arrests and complaints by precinct.
Thus far, approximately 700 arrested graff artists and samples of their tags have been stored in a database. Therefore, when their signatures are discovered, they can be arrested.
"They graffiti everything - storefronts, fences, mailboxes, ambulances, fire-alarm boxes," said Citizens Against Graffiti Everywhere (CAGE) founder Fred Kress. "If you stood still on a corner long enough, you would be graffitied."
Kress' group launched a month ago and already counts 300 members. Meanwhile, City Councilman Peter Vallone recently launched his own anti-graffiti campaign and has a short fuse regarding the "so-called art." "These thugs destroy property for the notoriety," Vallone told the Daily News.
Prior to the Graffistat campaign, cops only took mug shots of vandals if they committed a felony. The department has now changed its policy and photographs every suspect for a database that can be accessed by any precinct. Furthermore, a "worst of the worst" list of NY's 100 most wanted graff artists was recently sent to all New York precincts.
Authorities are stressing to take graffiti seriously. The NYPD recently formed the Citywide Vandals Task Force, an 80-member plainclothes unit comprised of two NYPD vandalism squads. The task force patrols streets and subway stations for graffiti and the artists. The unit go as far as to follow the artists in hope to catch them red-handed.
According to police, surveillance cameras have also resulted in multiple arrests. Authorities also think the bulk of tags are being done by young men who simply want to see their name in big letters rather then gangs. This year's statistics show that 1,228 of the offenders were 17 and younger while 1,002 were 18 or older. Cops are also working with youth officers who teach students about the repercussions of tagging and school agents who give information about teens tagging school property.
