Having an officer dedicated to graffiti crimes has helped city make six arrests since last November

The war against graffiti in Tooele City is ongoing, with ever-shifting battlefronts, but police and city officials say it’s a war they been winning since the start of the year.

Progress began when Tooele City police officer Brad Young was tapped to act as the city’s de facto graffiti czar at the end of November, according to city officials. Previously, busy detectives had been called out to investigate taggings on commercial buildings, fences, park equipment, and even private residences. Now Young, a crime prevention specialist with five years on the force, spearheads all graffiti investigations.

“When graffiti was in our investigations division, we were sending misdemeanor cases to detectives who were already carrying a case load of felony cases,” said Lt. Paul Wimmer, of the Tooele City Police Department. “Obviously they had to prioritize their case load, so we were losing the battle and having a hard time following up on graffiti. This move allows graffiti to carry a higher priority. We don’t get a lot of cases with [evidence or witnesses], but those that we do get are getting followed up on in a more timely manner.”

As a result, the department has been able to make six arrests since November — a time when a spike in graffiti had prompted the city to appeal for the public’s help in catching taggers. Those arrests are being linked back to nearly 20 documented graffiti cases, according to Young.

“That’s huge,” Wimmer said. “We’ve charged more people with graffiti in the last few months than we have in a while.”

Those arrests are the result of informants coming forward, neighbors being vigilant and school officials keeping their eyes open. Tooele City Parks and Recreation director Kathy Bell said her department has paid out four $250 rewards to such informants since November, and is looking to pay out a couple more rewards pending arrests.

“We are very impressed with the work the police department is doing with graffiti,” Bell said. “Officer Young has actually been able to catch people.”

The most notable recent arrest occurred in early January when a Tooele teen was caught fleeing the Tooele County Health Department in a maroon-and-tan Ford Explorer after the letters “BTS” (which means Bomb the System) had been spray-painted on an electrical box. A bulletin was issued throughout the department asking officers to watch for a vehicle fitting that description, and a few days later it was spotted at the 7-Eleven convenience store on Tooele’s Main Street. Spray paint cans were found inside the vehicle when a search was conducted, and the teen was taken next door to the police department for questioning.

The teen eventually implicated two other friends and all three were charged with graffiti violations in juvenile court. The three were connected back to eight taggings, mostly in Tooele’s business district.

In another case, school officials at Clarke N. Johnsen Jr. High caught a tagger on the school’s surveillance system spray painting the letters ‘ANK’ — for All Nations Krew — on the building. Young had already collected information on four or five other cases involving the same letters, and once the arrest was made, was able to charge the teen on all of the cases.

The tagging signs are a way that different groups make a statement, Young said. Taggers usually spray paint the letters close to home so they and their friends can see the tag often.

“One kid told me that he just liked seeing his artwork out there,” Young added. “If you live on the north side of town, you’re typically not going to go tagging clear down on the south side of town.”

Similar taggings sometimes come from a variety of different culprits, however, Young said.

“Just because it says the same thing, doesn’t mean it’s the same person,” Young said. “We have to also look at the style used.”

Young’s work day consists of reviewing reports of graffiti and looking for similarities. Then he follows up as much as he can, but sometimes without a witness or other evidence the case will stay open for a while until a lead presents itself. He works constantly with Officer Heath Hillyard at Tooele High School, where Young said a majority of the perpetrators attend school.

Young is also an instructor for the Lion’s Quest program, which educates adolescents about healthy alternatives to drug and alcohol use and other risky behaviors. He oversees the citizen patrol, works with Tooele City Youth Court, and said approximately one-third of his time is spent following up on graffiti cases, which can often be difficult without witnesses.

“I think that our efforts are starting to curb it, but I think we still have a long way to go — not just with catching perpetrators and charging them, but in educating the people and getting the people working with us for a long-term cure. If you have a tire that keeps going flat, you can put some patches on it, but sometimes you need a long-term cure.”

Young recommends that residents leave exterior lights on overnight and keep their eyes open to graffiti activity in their neighborhood.

“Everyone says ‘Oh you shouldn’t keep lights on,’ but I agree with a quote I heard once that the greatest invention for crime is the light bulb,” Young said.

Solving most of the city’s cases is something that police can’t do alone, Young said.

“Police can only do so much,” Young said. “We can’t be in every neighborhood all the time. We wish we could. We can’t curb crime unless we have the people’s help. That doesn’t just mean coming forward and saying ‘my fence has been tagged.’ It means being a witness. Sometimes you have to stand up for your neighborhood. The more eyes we have the more we can do.”

Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com