Police have arrested 18 people for defacing public and private walls with graffiti and are searching for at least 45 others in a crackdown on a “growing menace.
Authorities declared their zero tolerance approach on Tuesday for the boldly sprayed markings sprawled on parks, business places, houses, walls and even churches.
Two adults and 16 minors were in custody and several of them have admitted to the offence, according to Inspector Robert Simmons, who is stationed with the St. Cecilia Urban Renewal Project.
“Many of them are juveniles. There are some adults. We are pushing towards dealing with the defacing of properties and we are going to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “Information is coming in on a regular basis.”
He made the comments as he was standing in front of a northern wall that had been entirely defaced at Family Guardian Insurance on Baillou Hill Raod.
Making a distinction, Inspector Simmons said the culprits involved are graffiti writers, not artists.
The suspects who are in custody were arrested from various neighbourhoods across the island, including Coconut Grove, areas off East Street, Marshall Road and Mystique Gardens.
Much of the graffiti markings contain the culprits’ aliases or a tag sign with which they are affiliated.
“I realized that most of the paintings are done between the hours of midnight and 3a.m. in the mornings-I have an adult in custody who is known to be driving the [spray painter] around,” the inspector said.
Officers on patrol are keeping a keen eye out for graffiti bandits, authorities indicated.
The vice is costing business and home owners and church groups thousands of dollars in total on an annual basis to clear away the nasty markings, according to police.
“I have the support of the commissioner of police and the divisional commanders to assist me in rounding those persons up so we are working well into the wee hours of the morning collecting these persons because some are in school and some of those persons are unemployed,” Inspector Simmons said.
Police also appealed to parents to monitor the activities of their children.
“This business of graffiti is a growing menace in the society and there are a number of persons who are very much concerned about this criminal act that is being committed by individuals,” Police Inspector Walter Evans said.
“We are making an appeal to parents to know exactly what kind of activity your children are engaging in [and] where they are going-We are asking them to refrain from this type of activity. There are ways in which talents and abilities can be utilized and painting and defacing buildings is not the avenue.”
Last year police reported that they were making some headway in solving the vexing problem of graffiti on public and private buildings.
But back then, Inspector Bruce Arnette with the Urban Renewal Programme said the dilemma was that the majority of the culprits were not prosecuted because they were minors.
In those cases, businesspersons forged alliances with the police to help determine and execute a fair punishment.
The guilty are liable for the cost of damage to the building that has been defaced, police said.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
