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Graffiti Tracker Put To Use In Montclair, CA

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

In what looks to be the only company profiting from southern California vandals, Graffiti Tracker has yet another contract in southern California. The city of Montclair, CA has spent some dough on graffiti abatement.

The City Council unanimously approved a one-year contract on Monday with a company that will study, analyze and help police reduce graffiti in the city.

The city hired Graffiti Tracker Inc. to supply police with GPS monitors to identify tagging in specific areas of the city.

Police Chief Chester Thompson said the GPS markers will help police direct enforcement toward areas where graffiti has increased or where gang rivalries are found.

“Graffiti is getting out of hand and getting costly,” said Councilwoman Carolyn Raft at Monday night’s meeting.

The council also approved spending $100,000 from a state grant to buy additional police equipment.

The expenditure from State Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Funds provides 12 mobile video recorders, a forensic evidence recovery tool and a mapping tool for the department.

Posted in California, Cracking Down, News, U.S. | No Comments »

The Special Kids Think They Can Beat SABER

Monday, November 5th, 2007

HAHAHA! Oh man. If you read anything from me today let it be this!!

So, to sum it up. These kids at a graphic arts technical school are trying to beat an official Guinness World Record titled “Longest Graffiti Scroll”. You can get information about it here.
Anyways, I wonder if they know about SABER’s Unofficial World Record for the World’s Largest Graffiti Piece, measuring a staggering 250′ x 55′ (nearly the size of a football field) and took 125 gallons of latex roller paint to complete. Even though SABER’s piece isn’t in the Guinness World Records it definitely should be mentioned when talking about largest graffiti anything!

In closing, I propose that SABER’s masterpiece be nominated for what it deserves!

Bergen County Technical High School students will continue trying today to break the Guinness world record for the longest graffiti scroll.

The graphic design students from the school’s Paramus campus began spray-painting messages and quotes about safe teenage driving Thursday on paper scrolls. Their goal is to paint the graffiti on at least 2,000 feet of the paper.

A selection of messages has been chosen, including “Trustworthiness — No Drinking and Driving” and “Did you know that car accidents are the leading cause of deaths in our age bracket?”

But by day’s end, the students were still a bit short, reaching 1,500 feet, said teacher Karen Waller.

Disappointment set in when the 18 students thought they’d failed to beat the 1,858-foot-long record set in June by Procter & Gamble Balkans in Bucharest, Romania, she said.

Waller researched the Guinness rules, though, and determined “there’s nothing that says we can’t do it over the course of two days.”

Posted in New Jersey, News, Oddball, U.S. | No Comments »

Yet, More Cracking Down In La Habra

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Orange County is one of the very few counties in the world where you can go spraying at and go to jail for over a year if caught doing it illegally. And it’s getting worse…much worse.

The city is looking to increase penalties for graffiti offenders to stop tagging before it starts.

The city’s graffiti removal efforts have been increasingly aggressive and now the city is considering implementing a civil citation process as a harsher punishment for taggers.

As of now, offenders are only fined if the case makes it to court and the judge finds the suspect guilty. A civil citation gives the police the power to fine the criminals.

The crime currently warrants a misdemeanor, according to the city code, and taggers are expected to pay for property damages. However if the damage is more than $400, taggers could be charged with a felony, according to Police Chief Dennis Kies.

Mayor Jim Gomez has also been working with city staff and the Police Department to outline how offenders would be punished.

Gomez is looking to hold parents accountable for their children’s actions and incorporate strict fines.

On a first offense, taggers would be fined $250, $500 for the second offense and $1,000 for the third offense. If the fines are not paid, the tagger could face up to 60 days in jail.

Posted in California, Cracking Down, La Habra, News, U.S. | No Comments »

Southern California is Burning Down! Fire EVERYWHERE!

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

If you haven’t heard about all of the fires in California by now then you’re just blind and can’t hear! Most are suspected arson. The following is a bit of data and info that I’ve gathered about the fires, I’ll try and keep this updated:

Community Little Book has put together a nice list of resource links about the various fires.
Fox11 LIVE News Coverage.
NASA images of the many fires in Southern California.
Google’s Interactive fire map.
The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Latest Statistics:
500,000+ People Evacuated.
1,300 Homes Lost.
10 People Dead.
640 Square Miles Burned.
50,000 San Diego Residents Returned Home.

Posted in California, Exclusive, News, Special Stories, U.S. | 1 Comment »

Delaware Seriously Cracking Down

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

They really aren’t playin’ at all in Delaware. But this guy got a bit too crazy and hit a church…consequences.

In the past month, graffiti tags such as SON and MAG scrawled in orange, silver, yellow or gold spray paint have been turning up on the sides of numerous businesses in Prices Corner, Belvedere and Christiana Hundred.

Investigators probing these acts of vandalism Thursday arrested the alleged vandal — a 21-year-old Newport man — and charged him with defacing more than a dozen area properties.

Following a raid at his home, state police charged Joseph T. Marro Jr. of the 500 block of Augustine St. with 10 counts of graffiti, one count of possession of graffiti tools, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of prescription drugs not in their original container.

Marro was released after posting $7,000 bail, state police Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh said.

During the search of his home, detectives confiscated a large bag of magnum markers, Sharpies and other markers in various colors commonly used to produce graffiti work, 13 grams of marijuana and a marijuana pipe.

Investigators also seized Marro’s computer and art work.

During questioning, Marro waived his rights, police said, and acknowledged that he was responsible for spray painting his tags, including SON, at these businesses:

â€¢Cash Advance, 2000 Newport-Gap Pike.

â€¢Boston Market, 3130 Kirkwood Highway.

â€¢Jersey barrier, Del. 100 south of Del. 2.

â€¢Celestial Church of Christ, 1110 Newport-Gap Pike, Belvedere. (WTF were you thinking?!!)

â€¢McDonald’s in Midway Plaza, 4625 Kirkwood Highway.

â€¢Ted’s Liquors, 1202 Newport-Gap Pike, Belvedere.

â€¢7-Eleven, 298 S. Maryland Ave., north of Boxwood Road, Christiana Hundred.

â€¢Deer Head Hot Dogs, 620 S. Maryland Ave., north of Boxwood Road, Christiana Hundred.

â€¢The Centerville Road underpass at Del. 141 near Prices Corner.

â€¢Pep Boys on Kirkwood Highway, Prices Corner.

â€¢A billboard sign at Citgo, 3927 Kirkwood Highway.

Posted in Busted, Consequences, Cracking Down, Delaware, News, U.S., Vandals | No Comments »

Buffalo’s Finest Vandals Hitting Local News In Buffalo, NY

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

Route 5 Graffiti (BUFFALO, NEW YORK) Buffalo’s Finest Vandals getting local news coverage and a lot of hot and heated looks. Enjoy this fine news piece.

If you drive along the Lakefront on Route 5 you’ll see a new greeting welcoming visitors to the Queen City. This message, however, is downright insulting and laced with profanity. Splattered across an Ohio Street building owned by Advantage Trim and Lumber, huge eight foot high letters spell out a variation of the mother of all dirty four-letter words.

The group is called “Buffalo’s Finest Vandals” and they have spray-painted their way to ignominy by defacing property throughout the city. However, this time, their actions have been caught on surveillance camera, and Buffalo Police Detectives have some pretty good evidence to assist them in finding the two vandals responsible.

Posted in Cracking Down, Freeways, New York, News, Throw-Ups, U.S., Vandals | 1 Comment »

More Kids Busted…

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

It really does seem to me that they’re just getting younger and younger.

Two children were arrested for allegedly causing a wave of graffiti in New Castle County dating back to August.

Police arrested a 13-year-old boy from West Fifth Street in New Castle on four charges of graffiti and a 15-year-old boy from Sweetbriar Lane in New Castle on three counts of graffiti.

The pair caused more than $2,100 worth of property damage across the county by leaving graffiti â€œtags,â€ or messages, on the roofs and sides of area buildings, said New Castle City Police spokesman Lt. Adam Brams.

â€œOne of the kidsâ€™ reasoning behind this was he was bored,â€ Brams said. â€œThe other didnâ€™t give a reason.â€

All of the offenses stem from crimes the pair are believed to have committed during August, but police believe the boys may be linked to other spots of graffiti spread across the city, Brams said. Police arrested the two after roughly a month and a half of investigating more than a half dozen tags. Each tag carried messages with words like â€œRenoâ€ and â€œOnce,â€ Brams said.

Posted in Busted, Delaware, News, U.S. | No Comments »

Cameras Are Popping Up Everywhere!

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Well, it finally looks like cities and states are spending some real money on graffiti abatement, by installing still and video cameras, along with motion detectors in some cases. Here’s a perfect example:

Law enforcement in Kern County has turned high-tech in its fight against graffiti.

With a click of a camera, law enforcement will now be able to catch taggers, at least on tape.

The Kern County General Services Department and Sheriff’s Department hope a talking surveillance camera will deter taggers. It says, “Stop. Your picture has been taken. It is illegal to spray graffiti or dump trash in this area. Leave the area now.”

The camera first warns verbally, then flashes a picture when someone walks by.

For every camera site, the county said they have seen a 95 percent drop in graffiti.

“We’ve had some real interesting pictures that we’ve shot over already that we wish we could have shown you tonight, but we have some really good shots, and they’re doing a really good job,” said Richard Johnson from the Graffiti-Off program.

UPDATE: Check out the video.

Posted in Bakersfield, California, Cracking Down, News, U.S., Videos | No Comments »

Pyro Being Held, Illinois

Monday, October 8th, 2007

While fleeing the scene this dude drops his blackbook, a shoe, and ditches all his paint. Cops find it all. Lesson learned?

A man police believe is a graffiti artist called “Pyro” was arrested last week in West City on Franklin County Charges. Saline County charges are pending in the case.

Michael L. Williams, 20, 11 Small St., Harrisburg, was arrested 12:42 p.m. Wednesday in Harrisburg for the West City Police on a charge of criminal damage to property between $300 and $10,000. He was taken to the Franklin County Jail for booking.

West City Police believe he is responsible for painting graffiti on the rear wall of the CVS pharmacy in West City early Monday, Oct. 1. He is also believed to be responsible for several graffiti paintings earlier this summer in Harrisburg, including several “taggings” on Church Street.

West City Police Chief Steve Mumbower said the village’s overnight patrol officer interrupted the suspect early Oct. 1 in the act of completing the fourth of four drawings on the wall of the pharmacy at the Rend Lake Plaza.

The suspect, also known as the “Roof Side Writer,” fled into a nearby woods before completing the lettering.

But in his haste to escape, he left behind what Mumbower called two key pieces of evidence: a shoe and a notebook containing many incriminating drawings and a telephone number belonging to the man’s girlfriend.

Posted in Busted, Consequences, Illinois, News, U.S. | No Comments »

KET Sentenced!!

Thursday, October 4th, 2007

THE NEWS HAS BROKE!!!

A graffiti vandal, making the second stop on what his lawyer called a “triborough tour” of the city’s courts, was conditionally discharged Thursday and was ordered to pay $5,000.

Alain Mariduena pleaded guilty in Manhattan in August to one count of third-degree criminal mischief for writing graffiti, much of it on subway cars, with his tag, KET. Conditional discharge means he must avoid future criminal conduct and pay his fine; the sentence differs from probation because it’s not court supervised.

According to his lawyer, Ronald Kuby, Mariduena’s tag has become known around the world.

Kuby said his client would be sentenced Friday for graffiti crimes in Brooklyn. In that case he is to be spared jail, fined $3,000 and ordered to paint a mural.

Last month, Mariduena, 36, was sentenced in Queens to probation and ordered to pay $1,274 in restitution and a $3,000 fine for graffiti offenses, Kuby said.

Mariduena, who lives in the Inwood section of Manhattan, said on his Web site that he pleaded guilty in all three cases to avoid prison. Kuby said Mariduena has retired from illegal graffiti.

Posted in Busted, KET, New York, News, U.S., Vandals | No Comments »

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