Cities look to tag team everything graffiti

Sometimes, it really is all about appearances.

To the creators of graffiti, it's about being seen. Depending on the style — a simple, scrawled tag or a more elaborate "piece" — it could be a crude display of ego or a more elegant artistic expression. Either way, it's intended for public consumption, experts say.

That's why it's crucial to wipe out graffiti as quickly as it appears, they stress, to discourage the "artists" from returning and to prevent the site from spiraling into further abuse.

"Everybody wants to get their name in lights; they want to get credit for work well done," said Lynnwood police Sgt. T.J. Brooks. "If these kids spend a lot of time painting — if they go out one night and apply their tag all over — and they come back two days later and it's gone, they're going to feel let down. If it's up two weeks later, they get their notoriety, their peers know who they are. They get their self-esteem boosted with their work out there."

Last year, police and community leaders began noticing a pronounced spike in graffiti throughout the more populated areas of the county. Tags — often just the perpetrator's nickname or initials — as well as more colorful creations were proliferating on fences, building walls, utility boxes, mailboxes and freeway sound barriers.

Several cities have responded with laws — some already on the books, others in the works — directed at various facets of the problem. Some officials want to make it illegal for teens to buy spray paint or broad-tipped markers, or to possess them while hanging out in graffiti-prone spots such as parks or underpasses. Others are focusing on getting property owners to quickly remove the tags.

Lynnwood took a different tact, giving Brooks time to conduct a serious investigation. The result: In February, the city announced the arrest of nine youths, ages 10 to 16, whom Brooks alleges made up two "tagging crews" responsible for much graffiti damage in South County cities.

"Our city was plastered with it, and the problem really has subsided to next to nothing," said Brooks, who devoted several months to his graffiti project.

While many people associate graffiti with gangs and crime, national studies show that only 10 to 15 percent of graffiti is gang-related, said Bob Hills. executive director of the National Council to Prevent Delinquency, a nonprofit funded by the aerosol-paint industry.

That's also true in Snohomish County, where most graffiti is applied by youths ages 10 to 16 who generally aren't involved in other criminal activities, police say. In the Lynnwood case, the arrested youths came from families at both ends of the socioeconomic scale, Brooks said.

"Most guys grow out of it by the time they are 15 or 16," said Deputy Steve Haley, a detective in the Snohomish County sheriff's crime-analysis and intelligence unit. "The vast majority of kids who do this stuff go on with normal lives."

Juvenile-court prosecutor Julie Mohr agreed.

"They think it's art," said Mohr, a Snohomish County deputy prosecuting attorney. "They all seem proud of what they're doing and admit to police what they're doing. And then they have these huge restitutions they owe."

While "taggers" typically aren't on criminal life paths, experts say the damage they do to property tends to makes neighborhoods targets for worse deeds. Police often the cite the "broken-window" theory, saying areas that appear run-down — with unmowed grass and weeds, unkempt buildings, graffiti, trash or abandoned vehicles — are magnets for additional vandalism and crime.

Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon is an unexpected source of graffiti expertise: In the late 1990s, he coordinated an anti-graffiti program for the Downtown Seattle Association.

In Seattle, he said, a single tag in an alley could attract more tags, followed by garbage dumping. "Pretty soon you see used syringes and condoms; next thing you know, you have street drug activity," he said.

When Reardon last year noticed a spike in graffiti on stop signs and mailboxes throughout Snohomish County, he took note. First, he asked his department heads to begin documenting — and immediately removing — any graffiti on county-owned property.

Now, he has asked the County Council to pass an ordinance that would criminalize the possession of graffiti tools in certain locales, make parents legally responsible for cleanup costs, and assess property owners $100 per day in fines if they don't move promptly to clean up graffiti.

"Graffiti costs millions of dollars per year in property damage, and it leads to criminal behavior," Reardon said. "It sends a message that this community does not take pride in itself and it's not secure."

Law-enforcement experts have mixed feelings about laws that target either retail sales, by regulating the display and sale of paints and markers, or property owners.

"You're penalizing people [the property owners] for something they have no control over. You really have to be cautious about how you do that," said Sgt. Brooks, with the Lynnwood police.

He recalled a Lynnwood business complex that was "plastered" with graffiti, then abided by a city request and hired a contractor to paint over it. As soon as the walls were primed, taggers hit again, adding $1,000 to the original $5,000 estimate.

When their monikers were promptly painted over again, the taggers apparently got the message. "Currently the problem is gone, and hopefully it's not coming back," Brooks said.

In general, cities with graffiti laws don't fine every business that doesn't respond immediately. The laws are considered tools to fix the most serious problem spots.

The Lynnwood Ice Center, for instance, is under pressure from the city — which has no cleanup laws — to voluntarily deal with the tags that continue to spread across its rear wall, which is visible from some nearby residences.

But it's not that easy, said Rod Chiupka, managing director for the Washington Ice Skating Association.

The business has spent $1,500, he said, hiring a consultant and repainting the back doors and mechanical equipment. But the building is made of a porous, textured concrete that can't simply be painted.

"We tried pressure washing, which ended up just highlighting it [the graffiti]. The next step is to sand blast," he said. "We're a responsible business ... we try to keep up with it. But there's other issues we deal with on a daily basis."

Diane Brooks: 425-745-7802 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com