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Jan. 31, 2008

Retailers Asked To Help Fight Graffiti By Keeping Spray Paint, Markers Locked Up

Last year, the city of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department (NSD) Graffiti Busters team cleaned nearly 64,000 graffiti sites, and this year the team is on track to clean more than 90,000 tagged sites. (See fact sheet.)

As such, the department this month sent letters to retailers reminding them that it is against the law to sell spray paint, broad-tipped indelible markers and etching solutions to persons under the age of 18 in Phoenix.

The letter also addresses a city ordinance that requires store assistance for the purchase of the items cited above and sets requirements for their storage and display.

"Graffiti lowers property values and sends fear into a community," said Jerome Miller, NSD director. "The city needs the cooperation of our retailers to fight this ugly and destructive crime."

The city spends more than $2 million annually to wipe out graffiti in Phoenix.

Additionally, NSD has a free paint and tool-lending program that neighborhood groups, schools and other interested parties can take advantage of to clean graffiti in their areas. More information about the tool-lending program is available by calling 602-495-0323.

Graffiti Fact Sheet
  • Through its Graffiti Busters program, the Neighborhood Services Department has 14 full-time employees working seven days a week in 10-hour shifts to clean graffiti throughout the city.

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  • The Graffiti Busters program costs taxpayers $2.3 million annually. Citywide, department representatives estimate that more than $6 million is spent to clean graffiti on behalf of other city departments, local utilities and other governmental entities.

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  • NSD is installing more than 40 flash cameras throughout the city in heavily tagged areas in an attempt to photograph graffiti vandals in action.

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  • The Phoenix Police Department has three, full-time detectives assigned to identify, apprehend and help prosecute graffiti vandals. Police arrest an average of 40 graffiti vandals each month.

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  • Approximately $200,000 has been handed out in graffiti reward funds since the program was established in 1995.

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  • Dan Grubb Ford joined forces with the Graffiti Busters program, employing a full-time staff member who cleans tagged sites in the Maryvale area. NSD provides the paint and paint-sprayer to Dan Grubb.

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  • Real estate officials indicate that neighborhoods tagged with graffiti see property values drop by as much as 15 percent.

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  • Under a new state law, juveniles convicted for graffiti are now fined between $300 and $1,000, plus pay an 80 percent surcharge for court costs. This translates into a minimum fine of $540 and a maximum fine of $1,800.

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  • Among Phoenix residents who have joined the city's graffiti-busting efforts are a 76-year-old senior in Maryvale and a 15-year-old in central/east Phoenix.

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  • Several local Eagle Scout troops routinely conduct graffiti cleanups.

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  • If residents see a graffiti vandal in action, they are urged to call 9-1-1.
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