VIRGINIA BEACH
When vandals tagged the seawall at 48th Street last month, city workers quickly pulled out a pressure washer to blast off the spray paint.
It didn't work.
So the crew ordered a batch of gray paint on May 21 and waited. Meanwhile, graffiti surfaced on planters near the beach access at 48th Street. More appeared on property north and south of 48th Street along the Oceanfront.
By June 4, the city's order had arrived, and workers repainted the sea wall. Police have yet to make an arrest, however. They also have yet to receive a report of the crime, according to department records.
Vandalism - already the third-most-reported crime last year in Virginia Beach - may be significantly under-counted because of a lack of communication among city departments and because of the high frequency of the crime. Only larcenies and simple assaults were reported more often than property destruction last year in Virginia Beach.
The crime was the least likely to be solved by Beach police, with an average of about 15 percent of the city's roughly 5,500 cases cleared by arrest, according to the department's 2007 report to federal officials.
Clearance rates for vandalism cases in Chesapeake and Norfolk were similarly low, according to department spokespeople. The FBI, which maintains national crime reports, does not track vandalism clearance rates.
In Virginia Beach, city employees who discover graffiti are supposed to contact police before cleaning it up. But sometimes crews simply get to work and move on.
Mark Gemender, public works operations engineer, said workers have noticed an increase this year in graffiti, despite an official police tally that indicates a decline.
City crews "may act more quickly in the tourist areas, but certainly in other areas, we take photos and start cleaning," he said, referring to a city practice of relaying images to police, who determine whether vandalism is gang-related.
"To clean up the city, that's the goal," said Jimmy Barnes, a Virginia Beach police spokesman.
Of cases that are reported to police, most languish without resolution, like the vandalism at Village Church on Indian River Road in January 2007. Jackie Simmons, an administrative assistant, said she and others at the church haven't heard from police since the day after vandals smashed exterior lights and spray-painted a church building, sign and door.
"I suppose they could consider it wasn't really major damage, even though, to us, we consider our church sacred so it was definitely important to us," she said.
It's not that the case isn't important, but "anything to do with violence to another person or animals is going to take precedence over a property crime." Barnes said.
A lack of witnesses and credible information about the crime also leaves investigators with little to follow, and the frequency with which it occurs can be overwhelming, he said.
"There is so much of this little tagging stuff around the city," Barnes said, "it's really kind of hard to keep up with it."
Shawn Day, (757)222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com
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RE:too bad
"You call it destruction of property instead of art. If we push for penalization their will be more youngsters in overcrowded jails. Get them to redirect their skills, not threaten punishment!"
If they ae going to break the law then they belon in jail, I don't care how old they are. If you want to call it art then let them come and repaint YOUR house.
Too Bad
Graffiti has been around since Ancient Rome and Greece. Usually it is the result of a group feeling that they are not being heard by those in power. Why not start some outreach programs for local graffiti artists so that they can polish their skills? Graffiti isn't all that bad, some of it is incredibly detailed and remarkable. If we could have these local artists doing some murals for the Hampton Roads area nobody would mind at all. There are too many plain boring building sides in our area anyways. You call it destruction of property instead of art. If we push for penalization their will be more youngsters in overcrowded jails. Get them to redirect their skills, not threaten punishment!
Orion
Ahh ... okay. Had a friend that used to work for Scientific Atlanta, and quit after they were bought by Cisco. I keep up with video stuff to some degree.
More appeared on property north and south of 48th Street ...
...if you look at them closly, they say, "NO PARKING" by residence of the North End!
Motion sensor lights and alarms
Instead of cameras, maybe putting up motion sensor lights and alarms on some 'favored' spots, or better yet, still cameras that fire off when the motion sensors are tripped. There has to be a way to catch these people in the act. Once they are caught, put them in bright jumpsuits announcing their crime and have THEM clean up the mess they and their ilk do. For the first offense, have them have to pull this kind of clean up duty for a week. The second time they get caught, they get a month of doing it. Make the punishment fit the crime. The trick is, catching them in the first place, but I don't doubt it can be done.
re: ah
All standards. Our division did mostly amplifiers and was working on an enormous digital switch for HDTV. Seeing what was happening after the founder died, I left. A year later the division was closed and the entire company was taken over shortly thereafter by a competitor.
If I go back to the NAB convention, it’ll be behind the mic rather in front of it…
Ah
Ah cool. What kind of broadcast equipment? :-) ATSC?
Ethan
Nope, not me. Orion is just my show of proclivity for my favorite constellation (and middle name of my son and small business).
I was NAB with a company that produced broadcast television equipment.
Absolutely artistic grafitti
The most amazing graffiti I've ever seen. I have no idea about the background on it, you can see people walking by so it's being worked on in the middle of the day. It in no way whatsoever appears computer generated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4
Ah
Orion - HRGeeks is just a local social group that works on tech projects. Many of the people are in computer security and similar fields, and that was someone that used the handle "Orion" that had shown up.
The graffiti in Hampton Roads, like much else, is absolutely subpar. Go to www.artcrimes.org and see what the real artists pull off (sometimes commissioned). Also if you haven't seen it, there is an amazing video someone made overseas that is strictly graffiti. I will try to find the link. It's... stunning. I can't imagine how many paint cans it took.
Former City Employee
I prosecuted a few cases in a prior career. The trouble makers are split b/w gang members (urban) and taggers (mostly suburban). Taggers have a specific sign. If the police can match the tagger to the sign you can solve several cases quickly. I'm not sayin it's easy to catch them, but I've seen it done in this manner.
I'll make it easy, CH...
...since you don't get it, it's called vernacular. I'll even define it for you:
ver·nac·u·lar
Pronunciation: \və(r)-ˈna-kyə-lər\
Function: adjective
of, relating to, or characteristic of a period, place, or group; especially : of, relating to, or being the common building style of a period or place
For CH
I sure wish they would catch the sweet little darlings who are drawling cute little pictures on the seawall. Politically correct enough?
How far can I split one hair
Apparently very far, Orion. Now get back to work and stop acting ghetto.
Literal
I think the term "ghetto" in this case refers to the slang version of ghetto, not the place.
For instance, a chrome handgun can be defined as ghetto fabulous.
It does not imply that the chrome gun is literally a place where lower income indivduals reside.
You know bad meaning good, not bad meaning bad.
Ghetto
Living in a ghetto doesn't make you "ghetto" so how can someone's actions make them appear "ghetto". That's like saying someone is acting middle class because he/she can afford to drive a car. You ride the bus-you're acting ghetto. The ghetto is a place defined by the collective social economic status of the people who inhabit the area, it's not a character description. Tagging a building doesn't make you act like a poor person living in a poor neighborhood (or a poor person living in the ghetto). It makes you a criminal. Criminal and ghetto are not synonymous terms. Go read a dictionary.
Hey
If you're scared I understand
CH
Sorry but I dont have to explain anything to you. Get over yourself!
re: Orion. . . ever heard of reading thoroughly
Uh, yes, I did. When one says "ghetto" or "punk," I think we get a general idea of the meaning. If a kid doesn't live in a "ghetto" yet sprays graffiti, then you could say he's acting "ghetto." If a kid doesn't have a mohawk or multiple piercings and does the same he could still be called a punk.
Stop spiltting hairs, CH...
Orion. . . ever heard of reading thoroughly
My question was not rhetorical. I wanted to know how ghetto was being defined. I believe that labels are important because they help to define people. If I litter, then don't call me a murderer unless you can tell me how my actions directly or indirectly led to the death of something or someone. If I jay walk, then don't call me a drug dealer. If you can't define the term (or you're too ashamed to reveal how you define it), then you probably shouldn't be using it. It wouldn't make sense for me to call you ignorant right now without explaining to you why, even though if I did choose to label you as such, I think my reasons would be clear.
re: taggers need to die
Ethan wrote:
Orion - NAB huh? Hmmm. Did you go to a local HRGeeks meeting once?
Never heard of HRGeeks; you seem to be familiar with them, please enlighten me [us].
taggers need to die
Tagging (throw ups) are garbage. If you can put up a real mural (see www.artcrimes.org) don't paint. I'm really not sure what real purpose standard spray paint serves, I've always found a brush better.
Orion - NAB huh? Hmmm. Did you go to a local HRGeeks meeting once?
Actually
I don't know what a punk is either, so why don't you be specific about that, too. And you didn't answer my question.
CH
I didnt know I had to be specific. Sounds like your the one labeling it. It could mean any of the things you said and more. The bottom line is they need to be stopped and punished because I live here as well as those punks. Do I need to be specific on the word "punk" or is that ok with you?
yes-me-again
What does ghetto mean? Does that word refer to the poor kids from mobile homes, from the projects, from middle and upperclass neighborhoods? I would just like to know. I don't think you can lump them all under one arbitrary label because a lot of times the kids/adults who do stupid and criminal things are doing them for different reasons. One kid may be tagging a building as a part of his gang affiliation, while another kid may be doing it because he was raised by a nanny all of his life and never received proper discipline for his actions from his parents. Some may just be spoiled and bored, and others may simply subscribe to a "thug" mentality. They aren't all the same, so if you're going to label them, please be more specific.
Graffiti...
It has been around forever, the only way to police it is to put a camera on every block. I would rather have the graffiti then have my privacy taken away. Policing is not the answer; there is paint and sealants that repel spry-paint, marker and so on. Property owners and/or cities that have issues with graffiti can invest in this paint. Then all you have to do is spray it off, if the graffiti sticks at all. A lot of people forget what it is like being a kid and what you did to make your parents crazy. You could be the most perfect parent and your child will still do stupid things. It is part of growing up, it is not always the parents fault. I have great parents that did a wonderful job parenting, but I still did stupid things as a child, it sure as heck wasn’t their fault.
re: solution
NO JONES wrote:
Ban the sale of spray paint.
Several cities have done this and [GASP] it doesn't work. I went into a True Value in Las Vegas for a can to fix a display at the NAB show and couldn't get a one without getting a cage unlocked. All it does is make it hard for the law-abiding.
Then again, it's worked out so well for drugs...
Solution
Ban the sale of spray paint.
Hey Bud!
ricebowl? Well no WONDER it takes so long to get paint in VB. Have you seen the price of rice??!!!
What do you mean by ghetto???
What's your definition of a ghetto? I beleive the taggers are a bunch of kids with nothing else better to do, plain and simple!