Graffiti in the Sepulveda Pass (Los Angeles: violent crime, neighborhood, maintenance)

[LALady]

Last week...driving from north to south through the pass. Big ole graffiti letters on the east side of the freeway. On a wall. How is it someone has the time to draw people size letters AND color them in and the police don't see/stop them?

One the plus side...graffiti in the pass gets cleaned up pretty quickly.

[Narfcake]

If they do it as a gang, it can get done in matter of minutes. Run a search for "train tagging" on youtube and you'll see what counterproductive measures lowlives can do.

As for the cops ... when it's one against many, would you try? Afterall, one's only human too.

End result of course, is that everyone suffers, not only in the neighborhood's appearance, but in our pocketbooks too, since it's the taxpayers that cover the cost of cleanup.

[MIKEETC]

In addition to the comment above about teams doing the work (and the unfavorable 1 officer vs. multiple taggers ratio), there's also priority. Grafitti is a crime, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not a violent crime. Bigger fish to catch, so to speak. And then you have to figure that if the police did go after these guys, the effort required to catch them is high, the cost to prosecute them is high, and the penalties are low...is it worth it? Better to let a maintenance crew deal with it in the morning - it is cheaper.

Look at this in the Los Angeles River. I think it has been there for years:

Flickr: Search (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=mta+los+angeles+river&m=text - broken link)

[ahugecat]

Originally Posted by MIKEETC

In addition to the comment above about teams doing the work (and the unfavorable 1 officer vs. multiple taggers ratio), there's also priority. Grafitti is a crime, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not a violent crime. Bigger fish to catch, so to speak. And then you have to figure that if the police did go after these guys, the effort required to catch them is high, the cost to prosecute them is high, and the penalties are low...is it worth it? Better to let a maintenance crew deal with it in the morning - it is cheaper.

Look at this in the Los Angeles River. I think it has been there for years:

Flickr: Search (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=mta+los+angeles+river&m=text - broken link)

Most of the taggers are gang members who probably deal drugs and shoot people.

[MIKEETC]

Originally Posted by ahugecat

Most of the taggers are gang members who probably deal drugs and shoot people.

Depends. There is a distinct difference between someone tagging to identify gang turf and another doing grafitti as "art". The first is a criminal and his tagging is an 'accessory' to his criminal activities. He's doing it to 'define' his turf and will kill anyone who defaces it or interferes with him doing the tag. The other considers himself an 'artist', considers the physical feature he is applying his graffiti his canvas, and beyond his graffiti is an otherwise a regular member of society - like this guy:

Tagger sentenced in vandalism case - Los Angeles Times

And these guys:

7 alleged members of L.A. tagging crew arrested - Los Angeles Times

I am not justifying either. Both acts damage property (whether it belongs to me, you, or is public) and are expensive to clean up. However, one is more dangerous than the other. Unfortunately, regardless of how dangerous they are (or not), the fact still remains that the costs of apprehension and prosecution combined with the (generally) minimal penalties involved make this a low priority crime.

[Captain Phingerbyngur]

The cops should use a rapid fire beanbag gun to stun the graffiti hooligans.

Why is it they do not?

[LALady]

Originally Posted by Captain Phingerbyngur

The cops should use a rapid fire beanbag gun to stun the graffiti hooligans.

Why is it they do not?

cuz our criminal justice system requires conviction before punishment. it's not the cops business to beanbag 'hooligans'.

[LALady]

Originally Posted by MIKEETC

In addition to the comment above about teams doing the work (and the unfavorable 1 officer vs. multiple taggers ratio), there's also priority. Grafitti is a crime, but in the grand scheme of things, it is not a violent crime. Bigger fish to catch, so to speak. And then you have to figure that if the police did go after these guys, the effort required to catch them is high, the cost to prosecute them is high, and the penalties are low...is it worth it? Better to let a maintenance crew deal with it in the morning - it is cheaper.

Look at this in the Los Angeles River. I think it has been there for years:

Flickr: Search (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=mta+los+angeles+river&m=text - broken link)

Someone must have hauled buckets of paint to the river to make those big letters.

[LALady]

Originally Posted by Narfcake

If they do it as a gang, it can get done in matter of minutes. Run a search for "train tagging" on youtube and you'll see what counterproductive measures lowlives can do.

As for the cops ... when it's one against many, would you try? Afterall, one's only human too.

End result of course, is that everyone suffers, not only in the neighborhood's appearance, but in our pocketbooks too, since it's the taxpayers that cover the cost of cleanup.

I'm glad my neighborhood cleans up the graffiti pretty fast. Some parts of LA look ridiculous.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by Narfcake

As for the cops ... when it's one against many, would you try? Afterall, one's only human too.

One human + one riot gun + one sidearm = scaredassed running taggers. Especially if the cop uses the weapons. The blood splattered against their "artwork" would make a nice counterpoint to their crime.