Making strides in graffiti prosecutions
photo by: zappowbang
There was some great discussion about graffiti and general neighborhood safety in the Byrd Park Murder post.
Police Lieutenant El-Amin passed along this encouraging news about cracking down on graffiti in the area…
Criminal Court yesterday had two prosecutions for Graffiti. Both were found guilty.
Both were prosecuted by C.A. Alexander Taylor who has chosen to handle graffiti cases along with his regular duties. The cases were
monitored by the Clean City Commission from arrest to prosecution.
Robert Adams was arrested by VCU. He was found guilty and given 40 hours community service. His community service has been arranged by Steve Nuckolls, Clean City Commission, to be completed in Fairfax. This was a low sentence due to witnesses not appearing for the court case.
Aaron Lacey was arrested by Ofc. G. Venable with Richmond City Police for damages done to the Starlite Restaurant.
Mr. Lacey was found guilty and received:
- 12 months jail / 10 months suspended
- 1000 hours of Community Service
- $1200 in restitution
- Complete a Drug and Alcohol Program
- Photo to be published and posted at Starlite
Does anyone know if we can remove graffiti somehow when we see it. I would be willing to do this as I’m tired of seeing it on brick walls, and street signs. How can we get rid of it?
Chris,
I agree with you, will I get convicted for painting over the graffiti?
Maybe we should organize a neighborhood wide graffiti clean up day.
Gary
Gary, I’ll join. Just let me know when.
Seriously, all you have to do to report Gtaffiti for removal, is open a Citizen’s Request Ticket. It is painless (if you do it on line, anyway), you can do it in the middle of the night from the comfort of your own pad, and without getting arrested for vandalism for apinting over it yourself. The property can be public or private and you do not have to be the property owner.
…To enter a request for Graffiti removal, call 311 or go on line to http://www.richmondgov.com to enter a Citizen’s Request. Unless the surface is one that can be easily damaged or is risky to get to,the graffiti will likely be removed by DPW on receipt of the entered request. Otherwise, the property owner must first fill out a “Graffiti Removal Release of Liability” form which releases the City of liability for damage to the surface.
Remember, reporting Graffiti for removal does not include the notification of law enforcement for filing a police report. For that, call non-emergency at 646-5100.
FYI…the two graffiti tickets I enterd over the weekend have already been addressed (24 hr turnaround, not too shabby!). The solution for a painted surface seems to be to paint over it instead of cleaning it off but at least it is a nice primer coat for the property owner and it removes the tag from public view (which is the whole point).