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LA Premiere Info
BOMB IT screens 6/6- 6/12 at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theater at: 1:00pm 3:15pm 5:30pm 7:50pm 10:10pm
**Limited Edition Bomb It Ipod Skins for the first 100 people
at each of the Friday night screenings 7:50 & 10:10
****Tickets for the 7:50pm Friday June 6th screening have SOLD OUT! But don’t let that stop you! There will be 60 tickets available at the door for the 10:10pm show. There’s still advance tickets to the 5:30pm show too***
Laemmle’s Sunset 5
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046
323-848-3500
www.laemmle.com
To celebrate the LA premiere of Bomb It at the Laemmle Sunset 5 there will be a premiere party on June 6th at The VineBar in Hollywood. Both Garth Trinidad and Jeremy Sole from KCRW are DJing and there will be free goodie bags too!!
Premiere Party 10pm – 2am
The VineBar
1235 N. Vine St
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 871-4060
To buy tickets go here and click on the “Bomb It” banner and then choose a date & showtime:
www.laemmle.com
[...] interview is from the global graffiti documentary BOMB IT! by Jon Reiss, which is premiering in Los Angeles tomorrow, June 6th at Laemmle’s Sunset [...]
Pingback by BOMB IT! Graffiti Documentary Interview With Space Invader | Laughing Squid — June 5, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
GRAFFITI —
Yes, graffiti is art?
But architecture is also art. Stone walls are art. Billboards are art. Even freeways, tunnels and bridges are works of art, designed with an aesthetic component in mind. Graffiti is wrong because it’s art created by destroying someone else’s art. Graffiti is wrong because it’s art that is imposed on others against their will. Graffiti is wrong because steals the right of artistic expression from others. Graffiti is wrong because it prevents others from enjoying the aesthetic of private and public property in ways that are meaningful to them.
The research that follows was done for the “Malama Aina Act” in the State of Hawaii. The data cited here strongly suggests that graffiti can no longer be regarded as just a public nuisance. Graffiti is a serious crime with insidious consequences that are both seen and unseen. What’s seen is urban blight? What’s unseen is the far more nefarious erosion of the very foundations of civil society; inevitably leading to an overall increase in more serious crimes and a decrease in the quality of life for residents and visitors.
• Graffiti is often a “gateway crime” where perpetrators eventually commit more serious offences.
• Graffiti, commonly referred to as “tagging”, is usually done in groups, which are referred to as “tagging crews”. Most taggers are teens between the ages of twelve and twenty-one. They use “street names” or symbols which are monikers unique to each individual.
• Tagging crews sometimes take on the behavioral characteristics of street gangs? For example, some get into turf wars with other crews by crossing out each-other’s tags. Sometimes these disputes escalate into violent confrontations.
• Tagging crews breed other tagging crews. Referred to here as “the brushfire effect”, the very presence of graffiti acts like sparks in a wildfire, inspiring more kids to become taggers, who in turn create more graffiti. They become infatuated with the infantile narcissistic pleasure of having their moniker displayed in public. They crave the camaraderie of belonging to a group; the excitement and bravado of committing illegal and dangerous acts; revel in the juvenile thrill of rebellion; power over established authority and the possibility of “fame” within their subculture. In virtually every community around the world, when incrementally stronger, but nonetheless insufficient resources were implemented with the goal of merely “reducing” graffiti, tagging has spread and exploded like a brushfire.
• Some tagging crews have actually evolved into full-fledged criminal street gangs that deal drugs, commit armed robbery, extortion and kill rival gang members in drive-by shootings. In Los Angeles, a forty-four year-old man was recently murdered after he confronted graffiti taggers in the San Gabriel Valley. A police investigation revealed that the tagging crew he confronted was selling drugs for the Mexican mafia.
• Nationwide, roughly 10 % of graffiti is created by gangs. Once a gang takes root in a neighborhood, fear and intimidation create a self-perpetuating intractable crisis: “Gang graffiti is meant to create a sense of intimidation…….Gang members use graffiti to mark their territory or turf……and to challenge rivals……. When a neighborhood is marked with graffiti indicating territorial dominance, the entire area and its inhabitants become targets for violence…… Consequently, innocent residents are often subjected to gang violence by the mere presence of graffiti in their neighborhood.”
• A gang taking root in one neighborhood can cause the formation of gangs in other neighborhoods, as kids form or join gangs to protect themselves from other gangs.
• Although most taggers are not part of violent gangs, a culture of lawlessness flourishes in graffiti-marked unkempt neighborhoods. The Los Angeles Police Department found that graffiti increases crime because it creates a perception amongst criminals that law-enforcement is impotent. Graffiti also increases other forms of blight such as illegal dumping and litter; ”Besides defacing public and private property, graffiti and illegal dumping signals disorder in a neighborhood and invites crime. The physical condition of a neighborhood …… sends clear signals to potential offenders about the likelihood of (not) (sic) being apprehended…” It’s important to note that Los Angeles has actually experienced a decrease in violent crimes in the last few years even though tagging has increased. This could lead some to the mistaken conclusion there is no correlation between graffiti and other crimes. On the contrary, the decrease in violent crime directly correlates to a massive increase in the California adult prison population due to enhanced law-enforcement efforts and the “Three-Strikes” law. Tagging is generally not an adult crime.
• Graffiti demoralizes citizens, and diminishes their faith in the ability of government to solve more serious problems.
• There is a symbiotic effect between litter, illegal dumping and graffiti. The presence of any one of these elements leads to increases in the other two.
How Graffiti Erodes Ethical and Behavioral Standards
Graffiti, or mismatched painted-out graffiti, seems to be everywhere. It has literally become an intrinsic part of the landscape. On Oahu, graffiti is now epidemic. This seems to have the effect (for some people), of warping what should otherwise be clear ethical and moral boundaries; behavioral standards we need for a civilized society to be civil.
This film is a prime example of how intelligent and sophisticated people have their critical thinking skills warped by a criminal act that has become so commonplace, appropriate outrage has been replaced by pro-active approval.
The tacit acceptance of graffiti blurs the basic principles of right and wrong we all learned in kindergarten; respect for the property of others.
Narcissistic taggers even impose their aesthetic on the Devine art of nature; spray-painting their monikers on trees, cliffs, rocky shorelines and sacred Hawaiian burial sites.
One graffiti-vandal illustrated how warped his ethical compass had become when he was quoted as saying; “Private property is stolen property.”
Perhaps the foregoing quote sums up why tagging is so destructive?
People who believe that private property is stolen property are likely to commit more serious crimes. Having a thousand or a hundred thousand people who believe that private property is stolen property can bring down a city the size of New York, which is what almost happened in the 1970’s. (See the studies about New York City that follow.)
Nationwide, the staggering cost of graffiti removal is over eight-billion dollars a year. This figure does not take into account the terrible economic impact graffiti causes by increasing crime-rates and decreasing property values.
In Hawai`i, tourism is the heart and soul of our economy. It’s likely there are tourists who choose to vacation in less expensive and remote places because their perception of Hawai`i as a paradise has been diminished either consciously or unconsciously by the blight of graffiti. Tourists come to Hawai`i to escape their problems, not to be reminded of them. Governor Lingle once said there is no way to measure the damage to Hawai’i’s reputation as a paradise when visitors see graffiti sprayed on homes, businesses, sidewalks and bridges.
Moreover, those of us who share the good fortune to call Hawai`i home, have a special responsibility to put an end to tagging, litter, and illegal dumping. These islands are truly sacred wonders of Creation. To live here is a blessing and privilege. It is therefore incumbent upon us to act as stewards of these islands, and to protect them from environmental and aesthetic damage; “Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono.”
Only the hopeless are helpless. Why incremental measures don’t work:
It is possible to eliminate, not just mitigate graffiti and other forms of blight such as dumping and litter, throughout the entire State of Hawai`i. In fact, this research, (and the experience of the Hawaiian State Legislature) shows it is actually counter-productive, and more expensive in the long-run to have more modest goals. The Legislature in Hawai`i has watched helplessly as graffiti increased despite incrementally stronger laws that have been enacted over the years. The experience of lawmakers around the world has been the same.
The reason for this is what is referred to here as “the brushfire effect”. Like a small brushfire that is not fully extinguished, the remaining sparks inevitably re-ignite the fire. Likewise, the presence of graffiti, or graffiti poorly covered by mismatched paint, leads to the occurrence of more graffiti. In Hawai`i and on Oahu in particular, graffiti has now spread into a massive epidemic conflagration.
An example of incremental measures and half-hearted goals that do not work can be found in the city of Montebello California. The city installed one-hundred twenty hi-tech video cameras that are equipped with sensors that are triggered by the sound of spray cans. Each camera costs between thirty and forty-thousand dollars. The cameras are installed in permanent locations, which means taggers can learn where they are, and do literally dozens of things to avoid detection, including destroying the cameras themselves. Well-meaning city officials who are implementing this program, have lackluster uninspiring goals of what will constitute success: “We hope this system will reduce the cost of painting out graffiti by 40% to 50% within the next three to four years.”
To succeed, we must employ several proven strategies simultaneously, with sufficient resources. This study shows it is the cumulative effect of these strategies, working in concert with each other that ensures success. Described here as the “five ‘T’s”, they are: Tough penalties for offenders; Timeliness, meaning quick removal of graffiti; Total removal, which means removing it everywhere (even dumpsters); Technology, which means utilizing the latest technological innovations so that graffiti is removed efficiently while restoring surfaces to their original appearance, and also using the latest technology to catch vandals; Teaching, which means educating the public and kids as to why this is an important issue.
Why Graffiti Has Spread World-wide —
And… Why It Look The Same Everywhere.
Tagging is now a world-wide scourge because it is fueled by the power of the Internet. There are dozens, and possibly hundreds of websites that promote graffiti. They provide vandals with an international forum for peer recognition and camaraderie. Vandals have Internet “chat rooms” and “blogs” where they share tagging techniques with each other, experiences, and ways to avoid getting caught by the police.
What follows are examples of websites that promote tagging. Most of these sites are run by companies that profit from the sale of tagging implements, “T”-shirts, jackets, and other memorabilia that appeals to the tagger sub-culture.
What you see below should make you angry. Hopefully, your anger will manifest as action?
Commercial-for-profit Internet retailers sell spray paint, wide-tipped markers, and other tagging tools. Many of these companies sell their wares to minors in states where it is illegal to do so.
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The Internet is a perfect outlet for narcissistic taggers. Many of these sites also feature “on-line” art galleries, where taggers can have their acts of vandalism displayed around the world.
On the Internet, vandals can even become “celebrities”; literally “famous” amongst their peers, and can even profit from the sale of DVD videos showing them in the act of tagging.
The irony is that taggers like to think of themselves as maverick creative individualists, when what they are really doing is just copying their peers. The loopy, square or jagged style of graffiti lettering looks very much the same in London and Sweden as it does in Honolulu. In fact, Graffiti also looks the same today in 2007 as it did when it covered the New York City subway system in the 1970’s.
Taggers are for the most part anything but innovative?
?Taggers are more like lemmings. They follow the crowd.
(Below) Subway: New York; Circa 1970’s
What Works
NEW YORK CITY:
In the mid 1960’s, long before the Internet, and long before the rest of the world became a canvass for taggers, the style of large-scale spray-painted graffiti got its start in New York City.
(Below) Subway: New York; Circa 1970’s
Within 10 years, virtually all the great monuments of Central Park, and even national landmarks such as Grant’s Tomb in upper Manhattan were literally covered in spray-paint. By the mid 1970’s, all of the trains in the New York City subway system were completely covered with graffiti. Some cars had so much graffiti on them, it was impossible for passengers to see out the windows.
The perception of New York as a dangerous and chaotic place permeated the world, and many tourists took their vacations elsewhere. Residents and businesses fled in droves to the suburbs and to the southwestern United States, which in those days was referred to by New Yorkers as “the sun belt”.
New York, once the nation’s flagship city, became the butt of jokes on late-night television. Hardly a movie made with New York as a location did not have an obligatory “mugging” scene. Property values and tax revenues plummeted, and the city itself teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Although graffiti and litter cannot be blamed as the sole cause of these problems, it exacerbated negative perceptions about the city, many of which became self-fulfilling prophesies.
Today, nearly 40 years later, although New York still has a large graffiti and litter problem. the city has made massive improvements that are instructive for Hawai`i. The most valuable lessons can be learned from what the city accomplished with the subway system, which is now virtually one-hundred percent graffiti-free.
The enormous scale and complexity of the New York City subway system rivals the entire State of Hawai`i. In 2006, on an average work-day, the subway transported 4.9 million passengers per day, and 1.5 billion passengers per year. (The entire population of the State of Hawai`i is less than 1.3 million).There are approximately 6,200 subway cars, 468 subway stations – (only 35 fewer stations than the combined total of all other subway systems in the country) operating on more than 840 miles of track, 24-hours per day, seven days per week.
The anti-graffiti initiative for the New York City subway system began in 1984, in response to the public’s perception that the subways were unsafe, which led to a fall in ridership. Instead of making incremental improvements in the entire system, they chose to alter public perception by making a strong, visible impact early in the program.
They chose to take each line, one at a time, and clean them 100 %; making sure they stayed clean before proceeding to the next line. The first graffiti-free line was the “F” train in 1985. Subway stations were also completely cleaned one at a time, then inspected and re-cleaned daily. The underlying theory to their approach was that vandals are motivated by the reward of seeing their works displayed. Therefore, to remove the reward, it’s vital to clean or cover-over any graffiti immediately.
Subway: New York; Circa 1970’s
Staff were employed at terminals to remove a car from service and clean it when it reached the end of the line. Immediate removal was also found to save time and money because it did not allow time for the paint to “migrate” into the surface. Pictures of graffiti hits, and evidence of the time and cost of abatement, were preserved and brought into court as evidence by law-enforcement. Un-used cars were stored in well-lit, secure locations. The strategy not only kept subways clean, it significantly reduced incidents of vandalism. By 1989, in just four years, the whole network was graffiti free.
The city is now employing a similar approach for highly visible areas outside the subway system, that once cleaned, can be kept clean, one-hundred percent. Every police officer is responsible for deterring and detecting even the most minor offense. Some city departments have already reported a decrease in the cost of graffiti removal as more potential offenders are deterred. The city also found that Graffiti vandals are often wanted for more serious crimes, and catching them has indirectly prevented other crimes from occurring.
How Restoring Order Saved New York?
Excerpts from: “Cutting Crime and Restoring Order: What America Can Learn from New York’s Finest” by William J. Bratton- Heritage Lecture # 573, October 15, 1996
New York City Was Falling Apart
A culture of permissiveness justifying uncivilized behavior had brought America’s largest city to its knees. Beginning in the late 1960’s, a world-view began to take hold that criminals are victims of social injustice, and are therefore not responsible for their behavior. Quality-of-life crimes, such as graffiti, aggressive panhandling, public urination, litter, and illegal dumping, began to be thought of as “acceptable”, and something that some intellectually “sophisticated” people considered preferable to what they sneeringly referred to as “the sterile banality of life in middle America”.
William Bratton, who served as the Commissioner of Police for New York City from 1994 to 1996, spoke about this by referring to an article that was published in the New York Times in the early1970’s:
“The New York Times celebrated the arrival of graffiti in America as a new form of urban art in which the poor and the indigent could express themselves— even though it was on everybody else’s property and on city walls and parks— We did not understand what this celebration would cost, projected over time. We were encouraging a form of disorder and a disrespect for other people’s property, something that also engendered fear. When gigantic “murals” are covering every conceivable inch of bridge or conduit, people wonder, “What is going on here? Where are the police? Who’s in control?” Graffiti lends itself to increasing a sense of social disorder.”
Mr. Bratton described what he observed during his visits to New York in the decades following the 1960’s:
“I remember flying into New York City… [in the baggage-claim area of the airport][sic]; …there were all these cab drivers and livery drivers; it was sheer chaos, like in a Third World country, with all of them haranguing, ‘Take my cab, take my cab!’ Finally I found a cab, got in… a cab that literally did not look like it was going to make it, and we were traveling down roads that were by all accounts incredible; riddled with potholes, dirty, with graffiti everywhere, and with abandoned cars, litter, and rubber tires all along the highway from LaGuardia [airport][sic] heading into Manhattan. ‘Welcome to New York.’”
“And as we entered New York and the island of Manhattan… we encountered the notorious “squeegee pests,” phalanxes of them with five, ten, and 15 at the intersection.”
(Note: “Squeegees” were the name given to very aggressive panhandlers who run up to cars while stopped at red lights and without the driver’s permission, start washing the windshield and then demand money for the “service” they rendered. Often “squeegees” using dirty water made a driver’s windshield worse.)
“This was everybody’s first impression of New York…… people intimidated you into giving them money for what passed as washing the windshield……Fifth Avenue is often described as one of the richest shopping areas in the world. Once again, I saw illegal peddlers, beggars, panhandlers, filth, graffiti…There just did not seem to be any control, or any pride, or any sense of ownership in the streets of New York….And then I toured the subway. If I thought the streets were bad, the subways were something else……They were dirty and grimy…Vandals disabled the turnstiles so that they could stand at the entrance gates with their hands out like the squeegee pests. The only thing they offered…was not to be spit upon or harangued. It was, simply, ‘Give me your money and I’ll let you through this gate.’ On every platform, there were encampments of homeless people in cardboard cities. In 1990 it was estimated that 5,000 homeless people were living in the subway system in New York City ? a system that killed about 178 of them that year as they fell onto the tracks, were hit by trains, or were murdered….”
“Disorder had overtaken the quality of life, as witnessed by the so-called signs of crime, as I describe them. These conditions, if left unchecked over time ? and we have conclusively shown this to be true in New York City ? will lead to more significant crime, more significant disorder, and more significant fear.” (Emphasis added)
Making the Streets Safer
William Bratton served as the New York City Police Commissioner from 1994 to 1996. In just two years, he successfully instituted changes in the strategic deployment of law-enforcement, which included among many other factors, no toleration for so-called “quality of life” crimes. During this period, the city achieved a phenomenal 36% decrease in serious crime, including a 45% drop in murder. At the end of 1996, the rate of crime had decreased since 1990 by almost 50% in the seven major crime categories of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, auto theft, larceny, and burglary.
During that same period of time, there was no decrease in social factors generally thought to be the causes of crime, such as poverty, drug addiction, dysfunctional families and the high cost of housing. It’s important to note that housing was and still is, exponentially much more expensive in New York City than it is here in Hawai`i, and the rates of poverty in New York are also exponentially higher.
New York is now one of the safest cities in the United States with populations over 100,000, and one of the safest amongst the major cities in the world. What made Mr. Bratton so successful?
“When Mayor Giuliani interviewed me for the position of Commissioner of Police, he asked: ‘What could you do in the streets?’…. First, it would require his political will as Mayor… the Parks Department and the Transportation Department would work with other city agencies on the quality-of-life issues that were generating fear. They would aggressively go after graffiti and littering; they would aggressively go after public drinking and all the other things that generated fear……If graffiti was put up on a wall, it would be taken off very quickly. By implementing this partnership to address the signs of crime as well as the crime itself, we began to reduce the fear.”
LONDON
The cost of Graffiti abatement on the London Underground is estimated at 2.5 and 3 million pounds per year (about 6 million dollars). Most taggers in London are male, between 14 and 30 years-old. Increasing numbers of girls and women are becoming involved. Taggers come from all economic backgrounds. Some of the individuals apprehended were from Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Spain and Sweden. Their motivation for tagging was the same as it is everywhere; to be accepted, and to achieve “fame and recognition” amongst their peers. This is a very powerful motivator. There have been incidents where taggers have been seriously injured or killed in accidents, and this still does not deter their friends from continuing to tag.
The Graffiti Unit of the London Transit Police , found that graffiti is often a stepping-stone to more serious crimes.. One officer said; “…the 14 year-old will do graffiti, but then there is a steady progress[ion][sic] – underage drinking & drugs, shoplifting, car crime…..street robbery and stealing……There is substantial evidence that they are involved in other crimes.”
This has also been the experience of the Dutch Railways of Holland which reports that acts of violence are now being committed by 12 year-olds.
In Stockholm Sweden, law enforcement has found that incidents of graffiti often accompany other acts of vandalism and crimes that are becoming more aggressive and violent. Perpetrators have been apprehended carrying heavy sticks, rocks tied by rope and knives. Personal information about some government workers employed to fight graffiti has been circulated on the Internet by vandals, apparently as a way to target them.
In 1982, Professor James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling released a study referred to as “The Broken Windows Theory”. This study posits that if so-called “petty crimes” such as vandalism are not dealt with, it creates an environment of disorder that leads to the commission of more vandalism and more serious crimes. The thesis of the Wilson / Kelling study was incorporated into the approach taken by former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and his Commissioner of Police, William Bratton.
Mayor Giuliani instructed his police officers to begin enforcing even the lowest level offenses, such as lewd behavior and overly aggressive panhandling, so as to create an atmosphere of order. Crime rates in New York City plummeted as economic prosperity increased. While there is some debate as to whether or not the mayor’s actions actually caused these positive outcomes, it’s hard to ignore that there were virtually no other statistically relevant relationships or events that could have accounted for their success.
As noted author, media expert and Hollywood publicity mogul Michael Levine wrote in his book, “Broken Windows, Broken Business”:
“The ‘Broken Windows Theory’ 11 was such a revolutionary seminal concept in criminal justice that when it was published in 1982, it was considered a complete and total reversal of everything that had come before it. The notion that perception was as important in controlling crime as statistics, that letting ‘small’ crimes slide by was sending a signal not only that the criminals were in charge but that the police were either unwilling or unable to stop them , was laughed at, ridiculed, considered absurd or ‘radical’.”
“It wasn’t until the theory was put into practice in the 1990’s on the world’s largest stage, the city of New York, that its seeming simplicity was shown to be genius. Between Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton, the commitment to fixing New York’s broken windows? graffiti, fare jumping, squeegee wielding……was actually a call to arms, a declaration of war on crime, that proved to be the salvation of a city in crisis.”
In a study done in Minneapolis in the summer of 2006, maps were made that showed a high correlation between graffiti incidents and the commission of other, more serious crimes.
A small number of prolific perpetrators are responsible for about 80% of the graffiti in Stockholm, Sweden. If this is also true in Hawai`i, it suggests that it will be possible to have a huge impact by arresting and punishing very few individuals.
Both the Dutch and London Police are against the creation of legal or “permitted walls” which is a strategy that his been tried by many cities on the theory that graffiti would be reduced if youngsters had a legal outlet for “artistic expression”. Many locales who have tried this have actually experienced an increase in graffiti. This is because in the graffiti culture, excitement and fame comes from creating graffiti illegally. Perpetrators just used the legal walls to practice their skills.
The approach of the London Police is to build a computer database that consists of photographs of tags to identify persistent offenders, and hotspots of activity. Taggers generally use a symbol or moniker that is unique to that individual, which enables them to be recognized by their peers. On the basis of this information, the police target locations and perpetrators. After arresting a perpetrator, a house search will be conducted that includes the offender’s computer records. Often there is photographic evidence on the perpetrator’s computer as result of uploading their tags onto the Internet. This evidence, plus whatever was collected on the database is used to assist prosecutors. They also remove graffiti quickly utilizing the latest technology.
The approaches used by the London police have been quite effective. But they have been stymied by the lack of legislation they need to be able to search kids for contraband, and to impose meaningful punishments for those they catch. Law enforcement personnel in Sweden and Holland are also having difficulty convincing law-makers and the courts, to view graffiti as a serious crime.
Police Officers become demoralized when they go through the trouble of arresting taggers, only to see them get “slapped on the wrist”. Demoralized officers sometimes “look the other way”, and choose to focus on more productive endeavors. The justice system must regard graffiti as a serious crime and not just a public nuisance. Officers need to know that arresting taggers is not an act of futility.
As is the case here in Hawai`i, the British and Dutch have had terrible problems with commercial buildings such as wholesale factories and warehouses, where owners are reluctant to spend money to eradicate graffiti where it has little or no economic benefit for their business.
SPECIFIC ELEMENTS A LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE NEEDS TO CONTAIN ?
We need legislation that fights graffiti with adequate resources on five fronts simultaneously; The Five “T”s are:
1). Tough laws,
Most taggers are teenagers, with a small minority being young adults. Offenders must be punished in a manner that impacts them personally. We need laws that mandate long community service sentences, fines, loss of driving privileges, jail-time, and exponentially greater penalties for repeat offenders.
Even first-time offenders should be sentenced to hundreds of hours of community service, cleaning graffiti, picking up rubbish on beaches, separating waste for recycling, etc. They should fulfill their community service obligations in what would otherwise be their cherished free-time on weekends and in the evenings.
There should also be an automatic two-year loss of driving privileges for anyone convicted of tagging. For those convicted who are too young to drive, there should be an automatic two-year delay in the time when they could have otherwise acquired their driving privileges. There should also be enhanced punishments for those who tag Hawaiian sacred sites, landmarks, trees, cliffs, anything in public parks, or that effects the ocean.
Tough laws, and utilizing technology to aggressively apprehend vandals works. The City of Pico Rivera California, reduced tagging by 35% and earned over forty-thousand dollars in restitution in less than a year, simply by using an inexpensive software program called “Graffiti Tracker”. The software tracks where taggers place their monikers, and establishes patterns, making them easier to catch. Once caught and convicted, the city punished these vandals with loss of driving privileges and stiff fines. One tagger lost his driving privilege for a year and had to pay the city $8000 in restitution himself (not his parents).
Jail-time must be utilized for those who do not complete their community service sentences, and for repeat offenders. Although youth correctional facilities are over-crowded in Hawai`i, there are creative solutions that could circumvent this limitation. For example, instead of a six-month sentence in a youth correctional facility, solitary confinement in a county jail for one-week would cost less, take less time, and preclude any concerns about mixing youth with adult convicts.
Companies who sell graffiti implements in our State have also established what are known legally as “minimum contacts” which can subject them to the jurisdiction of Hawaiian courts. These companies can be sued in Hawai`i and are subject to Hawaiian law. Internet “stings” could be used to catch companies who make sales to underage customers.
Some things these companies do to promote graffiti may be protected by the First Amendment from criminal prosecution, but such activity would still leave them liable for civil damages. There is precedent that supports this; Attorney Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center has for many years successfully sued hate groups such as Aryan Nations and the Klu Klux Klan, for hate crimes even when the perpetrators did not commit their crimes under the “explicit direction” of the group. Courts have held that these hate groups are liable under the “doctrine of vicarious liability”? Any organization that promotes illegal activity can be held civilly liable for the tortuous illegal acts committed by others, as long as a nexus can be established between the organization and the individual committing the crime.
Having tough laws will also enable us to catch and prosecute more taggers, because many who are caught will be more likely to “plea bargain” to get a reduction in their sentence by helping authorities catch other offenders.
2). Timeliness:
Studies show that the single most important component of any strategy to eliminate graffiti is to remove it quickly, and to restore surfaces to their original appearance
Immediate removal of graffiti works on two levels: It diminishes a tagger’s motivation, because they are denied the recognition and feeling of power they derive from having their moniker remain visible. It also eradicates the graffiti itself, thereby eliminating many of its ill-effects.
Call-in graffiti hotlines are helpful, but cannot be relied upon because of the time lag between when graffiti is reported and removed. Instead, this legislative package must require the formation of abatement crews that have designated areas small enough to patrol and clean on a daily basis, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, utilizing the latest and best technologies.
For The Future: Why it Makes Sense To Combine Graffiti Abatement Legislation With Cleaning Up Illegal Dumping And Litter…
Right now, the responsibility for keeping Hawaii clean is divided up amongst different agencies and divisions. It will be much more efficient, and less expensive, if graffiti abatement crews, refuse collectors, and other maintenance personnel were combined into discrete teams, governed by one department. There would need to be two teams per area, to ensure that weekends and holidays don’t turn into a free-for-all for vandals.
Each team should be responsible for carefully inspecting, and keeping a particular geographical area in pristine condition. These crews will need to look “behind things” and “under things”; not just take care of what is visible from the street. The size of each crew would have to vary in numbers based on the amount of work there needs to be done in their assigned area. Even though different team members would still be assigned specialized tasks, they should be in constant communication, letting each other know the locations of graffiti, litter, and illegal dumping.
Teams would also be responsible for supervising volunteers, and non-violent criminals assigned to them for community service. It may also be wise to provide financial incentives to teams who do a particularly good job of keeping their territory clean. Perhaps some of our homeless could be granted a “home” in county parks and beaches in return for keeping them in pristine condition.
Geographical areas of responsibility could be the same as those governed by local community boards and other governmental agencies. At the coastline, the team’s responsibility would extend across the beach, only to the water’s edge. They would however, still be responsible for informing the appropriate agency of rubbish or any other form of pollution they see in the ocean.
Although there should be call-in “hot-lines” for citizens to report incidents of graffiti, litter, and illegal dumping, it must be the primary responsibility of each team to ensure that the entire area they are responsible for is inspected and cleaned on a daily basis. Teams must also be given legal access to enter into and clean private property as well in order for this plan to work.
3). Technology:
Removing graffiti, rather than painting over it, is always the preferred alternative. When painting is the only recourse, surfaces marred with un-matched patches of paint gives vandals a partial victory, and actually encourages more tagging. Surfaces must be restored to their original appearance.
There are new technologies and chemicals on the market that can even clean graffiti from porous surfaces such as concrete and rock.
For surfaces that must be painted, matching surface colors does not mean an abatement crew has to carry fifty different colors of paint. Existing technologies include paint matching computers that are commonplace in body-shops and hardware stores. These machines can match any color with a sample the size of a quarter, and although not portable, could be mounted in a truck or large van.
Off-the-shelf software, such as Adobe Photoshop, enables a user to take any part of a digitized photograph and use an “eye dropper” tool to analyze and instantly match the color. Although this software is not designed to mix paint, it does provide the user with an instant analysis of the subtractive primary combinations needed to mix the color. The subtractive primaries, which are “process” yellow, magenta, cyan and black, are the pigments used in color film. The correct percentages of each subtractive primary pigment, along with black, can be used in combination with white paint to create any color.
Digital photographs and lap-top computers could be used by abatement crews to analyze the color of the surface being cleaned in the field. All the users would need to do is mix the correct percentage of each pigment with the correct amount of white paint, and the color would match the surface perfectly. Abatement crews would only need to carry white paint, plus yellow, magenta, cyan and black pigment.
On the horizon, is so-called “paint-jet” technology. Paint-jets will do with paint what computer printers now routinely do with ink. This would enable abatement crews to match and paint instantly.
Abatement crews should also be equipped with power sprayers, which are much faster and produce better results than rollers on most surfaces.
Police could use portable, hidden cameras to catch taggers in areas where they are likely to re-offend, such as a freeway overpass that has just been cleaned. By using off-the-shelf technology, such cameras would cost only a few hundred dollars a piece. By not setting them up in permanent locations, taggers would not be able to locate the cameras and avoid detection. By using them on an ad-hoc basis, fewer cameras would need to be purchased.
Fortunately, the Internet is a technological two-way street. The Internet can provide law enforcement with what are perhaps the best tools to catch taggers. Existing technology can be used to trace taggers who have admitted to wrong-doing by posting their works on the internet, or who have purchased graffiti implements illegally. And as mentioned above, the Internet can be used to prosecute companies who profit from graffiti.
The State should not commit itself to long-term contracts with vendors. We must be able to keep abreast and take advantage of future technological innovations as they become viable.
4). Total:
For any legislation to succeed, abatement must be totally comprehensive, on both private and public property. There must be zero tolerance of vandalism, whether it is on a freeway, a truck, a flood control ditch, or a dumpster. It does little good to abate graffiti on public property, while private property remains covered in scrawl.
All property owners must take some responsibility for keeping their property graffiti free. While it would be reprehensible to punish property owners for the crimes of others, at the very least, abatement crews and authorized volunteers, must be granted unfettered access to eradicate graffiti and trash on private property, and should enjoy qualified immunity from liability.
5). Teaching:
Non-patronizing courses in ethics should be taught in public schools, that deal with the subject of tagging as one component of a broad picture of why certain types of behavior can’t be tolerated in civil society. Public service ads should also be created to educate the public at-large about the economic and social damage caused by tagging.
The Cost of Legislation Proposed by This Study:
What it will cost to fund this legislation is beyond the scope of this report, and is best determined by a Legislative analyst.
Whether or not a bill based on this research can be fully funded at this point should be a secondary concern. I believe it’s more important to at least have legislation in place that articulates a successful strategy , even if it must wait for funding in order to be implemented.
Limited goals will always lead to limited success. It’s better to articulate a lofty inspirational goal than to stay stuck in a hopeless mire of piecemeal measures. In the early sixties, President John F. Kennedy inspired an entire nation with his goal of reaching the moon in ten years. Nine years later, one-year ahead of schedule, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
We must accept nothing less than Hawai`i being the cleanest and greenest place in the world.
END NOTES
1.“GRAFFITI, THEFTS Gang’s Impact Limited Law Enforcement Officials in Waukesha County, Credit Pro-Active Strategy”; The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (February 26, 1996) Written by Jessica McBride;
2.”Probe of One Death Leads to Alleged Plot for Gang Hit”; The Los Angeles Times (December 7, 2007) Written by Richard Winton and Sam Quiones.
3.“Why Gang Graffiti Is Dangerous” The Los Angeles Police Department; http://www.lapdonline.com (December 9, 2007)
4.“Graffiti and Illegal Dumping” The Los Angeles Police Department; http://www.lapdonline.com December 9, 2007
5. California’s so-called “Three Strikes Law” was enacted by voters by passing Proposition 184 on November 9, 1994, and was codified in the California Penal Code §§ 667(b) through (i). Essentially, the law provides that any adult (not a juvenile unless charged as an adult) with three or more felonies can be sentenced to life in prison.
6. “Wanna Be In Pictures? Tag In Montebello” The Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2007; Written by Tami Abdollah
7. Source: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York
8.”New York City: A focused approach to rapid cleaning and removal;” Case Study Report on Graffiti; Effective Approaches to the Removal and Prevention of Vandalism and Graffiti on Public Transport – Final Report: The Case Studies and Emerging Issues” Department for Transport Prepared by Crime Concern;
November 2003
9.“Cutting Crime and Restoring Order: What America Can Learn from New York’s Finest” By William J. Bratton- Heritage Lecture #573, October 15, 1996
10.”Dutch Railways: A package approach”.” Case Study Report on Graffiti; Effective Approaches to the Removal and Prevention of Vandalism and Graffiti on Public Transport – Final Report: The Case Studies and Emerging Issues”
11.“Broken Windows”, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling; (1982) The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 249, No. 3, p.29-38
12. “Broken Windows, Broken Business; How the Smallest Remedies Reap The Biggest Rewards” By Michael Levine; Time Warner Book Group; 1st edition, November 2005; ISBN 0-446 57678-6
13 & 14.“Fighting Graffiti: An Investigation of Causes and Solutions”, By Daniel Allen, Applied Researcher on Graffiti, Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association (SENA); Summer, 2006
Comment by Mike Goodman — June 5, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
At ‘Mike Goodman” ,you have no idea what graffiti is.. . you are just an individual that does not understand it. … it relates to social class, and many other things and aspects….
graffiti is my expression my life and i have been doing it since i was 12 years old……..
you are a nobody “goodman” you are just an idiot that has to see things as an eye for an eye …
Comment by 50mm — June 6, 2008 @ 1:05 am
dude, even though, you prove a good point on rookie graffiti painters, you have to look at the big picture, which is, help the youth, self-express themselves, to where they are recognized by their peers, better put, as being recognized, by their city they live in.
While I agree, that tagging is weak sauce when done in such dumb ways, providing a proving ground, for “taggers” to show their skills, is way better.
While history has shown that taggers earn their way thru street cred, how bout, rewriting history, to having “taggers” prove themselves thru controlled environments!
I, personally, have shown younger cats, that respect, is way better, when earned by a bigger crowd. What do I mean? While a “tagger” is given “fame” by their peers for street bombing, it’s all about, universal acceptance. What do I mean? When more people appreciate your piece, you have accomplished the real deal. Only being recognized by a few street toys is one thing. To have a large percentage of society accept your mural art, is way more satisfying and fulfilling, since you didn’t piss off all these other artists (architects, city planners. fellow citizens), and instead, opened their eyes to the talent behind this artform.
I’m not just a teacher, but a leader of the old school into the new school. And these days, that’s what youngstas, wanna see. They want to see what you went thru, to gain respect of a larger crowd. Who cares if you have respect of just a few, when in all reality, if you do it right, you can have the respect of even your state you live in!
While I disagree on young punks painting on state landmarks that have been around way longer than they were born, there also needs to be someone breaking it down, so they can see the big picture.
While the game is to get RESPECT, why not teach them how to gain respect from everybody!
Demoralize the ones that are punks, that all they can do, is simple bs, that gains them props from only other toys, who know no better!
I love dropping science, and it’s why, I’ve been heard more than ignored!
People agree on the better development of God-given talents. Now, if we can have ppl that can break it down, so others properly understand, you’ll have cities filled up with beautiful art, that would better represent them, by the talent brought up in their city.
The more you try to put it down, and demoralize it, the more “taggers” want to prove you wrong. That’s the point.
Now back to the drawing board, and give young artists a chance, to properly develop into the artists of the future!
If you’re with me, how about giving me a CHEERS!
Love to all us human beings, just getting by, in this path, we call Life.
Jah Bless, from Rapid.
Comment by Rapid — June 6, 2008 @ 4:43 am
CHEERS Rapid, I hear ya! Much respect to the mural artists and street art scene. Much has progressed over time, as is the way of all things. Expression changes with new ideas, new stimulus, and new antagonists. If you take a good look at the graffiti world these days there is a clear line of definition between ego-boost tagging, and planned pieces done by serious artists, whether paint, paste or poster.
Also, to compare 2008 to the 1970’s New York scene purely based on graff style is infantile and fails to recognize the social pressures that exist now MORE so than in the 70’s. The entire country is on the verge of bankruptcy and the MAN has more power than ever. Where do you expect citizens to express their voice when the media and marketing machine is drowning the minds of the masses? No wolf wants the sheep to wake up!
I have the right NOT to be marketed to when I walk down the street!
Don’t I?
Don’t you?
All space is OUR space.
Comment by DJ73 — June 6, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
2.rapid
2.dj73
if you don’t get up then your wack … period. …………this is ridiculous i got up i did my dirt, and know i see dumb kids in there mid 20’s saying they do it because of the art wich is BS all they do is style jock, they never got up in there life, they just fake the funk .. and they wont know what being truly infamous is all about…
Comment by 50mm — June 7, 2008 @ 12:24 am
Dude, you did it for your “infamy”. True Graf writers, do it to create their own style amongst the thousands. And just because the art started out with infamy, doesn’t mean it will end with infamy. It’s an artform that does have it’s baggage. Baggage meaning all the rookie young kids that never been taught, that go out, and act the fool, trying to hold down ugly chicken scratches, as if they were indians marking their territory and not allowing others to interact with them. We’re in a new society where we want to encourage getting to know one another, and become friends and learn from the next. How are we ever supposed to be friends with people who act the fool, and have no desire to talk to anybody they don’t know? We’ve grown with so many generations attacking one another, it’s all we have to look at. And it’s like the old saying “monkey see monkey do”. We humans, are the same. We see conflict that has happened in the past, and feel the need to repeat, or carry out so called grudges. That’s what makes us so aggressive and hard to deal with. All these teachings we’ve been given, that we subconciously, act out, without even realizing it most of the time. Just going by what we remember and how they dealt with it, and trying to do the same. That’s why there’s the Bible. It’s a guidance book to Life. It teaches you of occurences in the past, and how they were dealt with, and the righteous ones that did good during those times. That gives you an idea of how to be a better person to your “brother or sister” here on earth. Being good to one another. In other words, being able to paint and decorate our world we live in, on the concrete jungle, we’ve built. Without us, this world would be its own painting. WIth beautiful valleys, beaches, forests, and mass amount of life thanks to it! With us, we’ve built a concrete jungle over it, so it’s now our turn to decorate it with what we like, and find to be intriguing and sophisticated. Which is exactly what graffiti is, but unfortunately, that can’t always be shown, with people like you, trying to steer the concept away from the real matter. Which is of course, this well evolved worldwide art movement. As the art evolves, while we won’t forget where it came from, which was illegal and such, we won’t forget where it will go! (Graffiti walls at public parks, etc) Make graffiti accepted and legal with even its own competitions sponsored by big money, to promoting the art of creation thru many public walls. Same way skateboarding came about. While it was legal to own a skateboard and skate in your own property, same way as it is legal to buy spray paint and paint in your own property, it was not legal to skate in other properties, as it is not legal to paint in other properties. They solved the problem with skating by creating parks and encourage the fact it’s another way for kids to get out and do an activity. Same thing can happen with graffiti by creating public walls that encourage and help develop creativity in kids, with lots of different inspirations, from other kids from their neighborhoods, and from around the world! We already did a lot by creating this concrete jungle, how about we go about decorating it too! It can all be done, if we just sit down and think about this a little bit. The art of getting up helped this art form be born, and it will just be brought up to the next level by now collecting pictures of your pieces you did in all different yards, and compare with what others did when they came to that yard. Help encourage creativity! It’s what will inspire our community to do even bigger and better things! To think that to fight graffiti is the way to be, is just a communist way to think, and try and oppress creativity and ingenuity. Freedom of expression was meant to be used to the best of its meaning. Now, lets organize it, and lets see what our people can do? Why not, we’re a nation of Leaders. Let the world follow…
And that my friend, is how you take it to the NEXT level. Not just about being infamous. That’s just how this came about, and a low mentality level way of thinking. Becoming “wanted” by police, it’s not exactly every artist’s dream, which is what infamy is. But, having their styles up in all available legal yards, with colors, and, other crews, respecting their pieces, is way more rewarding, than ending up in jail with fines and a dirty, now criminal, record… Maybe one day, businesses witll actually feel priviliged and honored to have a piece painted by certain graffiti artists. And by then, we graffiti artists, can say we won, the “war on graffiti”.
Again, if you’re with me, CHEERS!
Jah Bless, from Rapid and I hope I inspired you to think differently and a little more open minded!
Comment by Rapid — August 17, 2008 @ 6:20 pm