Police Report on Graffiti

 (The following report was distributed by Officer Amy Stull of the Olympia Police Department.)

On April 17^th, about 20 of us met to review quarterly graffiti data, discuss new information and review progress on the strategic plan.

Chief Roberts opened the meeting by discussing his commitment to deterring illegal tagging, including working with the prosecutor to create a separate graffiti ordinance with escalating consequences for repeat offenders. He talked about some of the tactics that were used in Eugene. He also made suggestions for citizen involvement beyond logging and cleaning tags, to include using cameras, notifying police when large tags are painted over in often hit areas, reporting crimes in progress and helping communicate with the public about the problem.

The group agreed that more publicity and information sharing will benefit the effort. Emphasis should be placed on cost to the community and individuals, general awareness of the problem and how to report. Education of the community through personal contact and with policy makers was also discussed. Working through publicity to communicate that illegal graffiti is not accepted here will be the challenge.

Dallen Archer, Probation Crew leader, shared survey information from a school project at Evergreen. He found interesting opinions about whether non-permitted graffiti was illegal (majority – yes), whether it was important to  have a space for expression (majority – yes) and if people were willing to pay for clean up (majority – no). He also reviewed information about some of the local tagging crews and associated monikers.

I’ll be working on a publicity plan and involving more volunteers in the clean-up efforts. Since the meeting, there have been four more arrests for tagging. There was a rash of graffiti related to May 1^st that will hopefully subside since that day has passed.

Thanks for everything you’ve been doing.

Amy