Tooele City police say they’ve made a breakthrough in combating the city’s recent graffiti problem, arresting six Tooele residents believed to be responsible for 90 percent of the graffiti in the city over the past three years.
“This is a big majority of the graffiti that’s going on in town,” said Officer Michael Terry with the Tooele City Police Department. “It will be awesome to see our town cleaned up again.”
Because police are still sifting through evidence in the case, charges have yet to be formally filed against the four juveniles and two teenage adults, according to Terry. The suspects are not currently in custody while the police continue to gather evidence.
“They’ve all been informed they will be charged,” Terry said. “It’s just such a big caseload and we’ve got so much to put together. Hopefully we can get this all into the courts within the week and wrap up everything.”
The latest investigation into the graffiti ring kicked off a few weeks ago when Terry was on assignment at Tooele High School, covering for the school resource officer who was out that day. Terry noticed several students wearing gang-affiliated apparel, which is against school rules. With THS Truancy Officer Alex Pacheco, Terry interviewed the students and noticed graffiti tags on their backpacks, papers and notebooks. He recognized the tags from other graffiti he had seen all around town and asked the students about it.
“I was surprised. They ended up coming clean with a couple of the tags they had been doing,” Terry said. “I talked to one kid, and he gave me two more names. I talked to those two and got two or three more names from each of them. I don’t know exactly why they ratted out their friends, but I just think some of them are tired of it.”
Police suspect this group of six accounts for 90 percent of the graffiti because of the repetition of the same tags throughout town, Terry said. The teens will use the same tag nearly every time as a way to mark their territory. Physical evidence and confessions from the students corroborated which tags belonged to which suspects.
Terry said he also has about 20 other names of individuals, from THS and other local high schools, he suspects have been involved with graffiti, which could lead to more arrests. Some of the tagging is gang related, Terry said, but other individuals act independently.
“Several cases have been solved from one person giving one name, and more cases are pending,” he said. “It’s going to clear up a lot of the damage that’s gone on in the city.”
The worst of Tooele’s graffiti problem goes back about three years, Terry said. There were 247 cases in 2008 and 332 cases in 2009. In the first four months of 2010, there were 129 cases — more than one per day — meaning the problem was still on the rise. So far in May, with these individuals having been caught, there has only been one reported case, Terry said.
“Normally it’s really hard to get anyone for the graffiti. They usually do it at night and, if we’re on patrol, they can hear us coming and see the lights. It’s easy for them to dodge us,” Terry said. “So for us to get six individuals like this — that’s huge.”
According to Utah State code, the amount of graffiti damage dictates the severity of the crime — ranging from a class B misdemeanor for anything under $300 to a second-degree felony for anything over $5,000.
“With the juveniles, not only can the kids be held responsible for it, but the parents may have to pay restitution,” he said, adding he’s seen cases elsewhere in the state where parents have even had to sell their cars or other items in order to pay restitution.
The police department is planning on setting up monthly graffiti meetings, inviting various city officials, parents and children to discuss what could be done to help teens — many of whom claim they go tagging out of boredom, Terry said — stay out of trouble. Some of the teens Terry has interviewed suggesting creating a public wall or area specifically for graffiti.
“These arrests will obviously reduce graffiti,” said Tooele City Police Chief Ron Kirby. “But I’m realistic enough to know this doesn’t solve our graffiti problem. We’re still going to stay on top of it.”
When taggers are arrested, graffiti often will dip for a period of time, but it almost always goes back up, Kirby said.
“This is a war we’re fighting for the duration. It’s a social problem in every community in America,” he said. “We are actively pursuing taggers and graffiti, but we need help from the community because we need them to report anything unusual.”
Tooele City prohibits selling spray paint or broad-tipped indelible markers to minors, as well as possession of those items by minors. Anyone convicted of graffiti faces a fine of between $500 and $1,000, or at least six months imprisonment. The city also offers a reward of $250 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of an individual guilty of graffiti.
Scott Spjut: scottspjut@tooeletranscript.com
So, I find it so frustrating when I see graffiti hear in Stansbury Park (and Tooele) that lasts for weeks, months, and yes even years. There is currently graffiti in Stansbury that has been there for nearly 2 years...when I initially saw it, I contacted the Stansbury Park Imp. District, the elementary school because it is on a fence adjactent to them, and a Law Enforcement Detective...and STILL NOTHING. I guess as a busy mom, I will have to take the intiative and go scrub it off myself...although it isn't the safest place to be. (traffic)
Graffiti is disgusting, just plain an eyesore.
Hello,
As a non paid researcher from 2005 to present I have documented literally over a million dollars worth plus of graffiti vandalism in Salt Lake County as far as I can travel on my own budget on a regular basis. I have seen half million dollar homes with graffiti inside and kicked down walls etc! I encourage the Toole County Prosecuting Attoryneys Office to not take the graffiti issues lightly. The police and related investigators deal with vandalism and can document graffiti vandals thru such evidence as monikers, and what I see is the ball being dropped during prosecution. Gang and Tagger Vandalism thru graffiti frequently, but not always coincides with other criminal issues. Taggers were for years thought to just be kids out with spray paint.The F.B.I. 2009 Gang Threat Assessment has made it perfectly clear that more needs to be done regarding gangs,and drug distribution. No community is immune. The gangs and taggers are from every aspect of society there are many white gang and tag crew members. I encourage the Toole County School District to address deterence of gang and tagger vandalism activities as early as possible in public schools. Graffiti is also an indicator of the community and what is functional and dysfunctional, it should be cleaned up promptly and not taken lightly. Graduating from Westminster College I always remind parents of the social disconnect they have between what the kids are doing and what they may not be aware of. The raves, drug abuse,and growing number of gang members and affiliates are great examples of this in pop culture.
http://www.utahandamericasgangcrisis.blogspot.com
as seen on Policelink.com and Brotherhoodofthebadge
Non Paid Researcher Hoping for a better crime report someday in Utah. Support Public Safety the population has increased and the funding and resources have not!