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With support from the District
Attorney’s Office, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department and local businesses, Clark County officials
unveiled a comprehensive plan to clean up graffiti and
crack down on vandals.
The plan, developed by
Commissioners Myrna Williams and Rory Reid, calls for
fighting graffiti in four key ways: increased
enforcement, tougher penalties, stepped up public
outreach and expanded community service.
District Attorney David Roger,
Metro officials, Judge William Voy and the Department of
Juvenile Justice Services pledged support for the plan.
The 15,000-member Greater Las Vegas Association of
REALTORS® and Outdoor Promotions Inc., a local company
that operates and maintains transit bus shelters
throughout the community, donated billboards and
advertising space to promote a public outreach campaign
aimed at ridding the community of graffiti.
"A lot of people think
graffiti is kid stuff, a victimless crime, but it hurts
the community and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a
year," said Commission Vice Chair Myrna Williams,
who spearheaded the county’s new anti-graffiti
efforts. "We’re fed up with looking at this mess
in our community, and we want vandals to hear us loud
and clear: You will be caught, you will be prosecuted,
and you will be held accountable for the damage that you
do."
Clark County spends $3 million a
year removing graffiti from parks, buildings and along
public right of ways, but the costs to homes and
businesses are thought to be 10 times as much – or $30
million a year.
"We organized this
public-private partnership because no single entity
alone can solve our graffiti problem," said
Commission Chairman Rory Reid. "We need the help of
police, the courts and the community at large to attack
graffiti on several fronts, and the county is willing to
lead the way through a series of new enforcement and
outreach efforts we now have under way."
Enforcement & Penalties
On the enforcement
front, Commissioner Williams initiated meetings with
Metro and the District Attorney’s Office to crack down
on graffiti vandals. As a result, District Attorney
Roger assigned graffiti cases to a special prosecutor
who works on gang-related cases involving adult
offenders. The first case, involving three defendants,
several thousand dollars in property damage from
graffiti, and armed robbery, is set for trial in
District Court on May 8.
"Graffiti is a big part of
gang activity," Roger said. "Gang members who
commit vandalism can rack up thousands of dollars in
property damage at multiple sites across the valley and
be involved in a host of other illegal activities as
well. We’re working closely with Metro to prosecute
these criminals and get them off the streets of this
community."
Many of the valley’s worst
graffiti offenders are adults age 18 to 35 who develop
the penchant for destroying property when they were
minors, officials say.
"People need to understand
that graffiti is committed by criminals, usually gang
members, for two reasons: The first is to destroy your
property, the second is to promote themselves or their
gang," said Metro Undersheriff Doug Gillespie.
"It is that simple. That is why Metro has been
aggressively pursuing the arrest and prosecution of
these criminals for many years."
To target vandals under age 18,
Clark County Juvenile Justice Services is working with
the courts and other county agencies to create a
Graffiti Offender Program. The program will include a
formalized graffiti abatement component so juvenile
offenders will be required to paint over graffiti in the
community. The program also is likely to include an
educational component that may involve parents and
children as well as provide an opportunity to pay
restitution through joint community service. A pilot
program will be unveiled as early as next month.
"A lot of the juveniles
arrested for graffiti have no parental supervision at
home," said Judge Voy. "In some cases,
particularly those involving gangs, we find that the
parents are intimidated by their children’s behavior.
In other cases we may find out parents are gang members
themselves. We also encounter parents who actually buy
their kids paint and other materials to do graffiti
because they are not aware of how their child will use
them or because they do not care that their kids are
involved in gang activity or serious property crimes. We
want parents to know what their children are doing and
to be our partners in ensuring that they follow the law
and are held accountable when they do not."
Clark County has several
anti-graffiti ordinances on the books that are posted
online. In addition, Commissioners Reid and Williams
plan to work with stakeholders on strengthening the
county’s existing commercial abatement law to quicken
clean ups.
Clark County Public Response code
enforcement officers also will continue to target retail
outlets that fail to lock up spray paint and markers
used to produce graffiti, as required by county code. It’s
illegal for minors to buy or possess materials used to
make graffiti. Code enforcement officers have visited
numerous retailers since October and have issued three
citations for failing to lock up paint.
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