PROVO -- Tagging in Provo is up for the season but drastically down for the year, according to a city report.
City spokeswoman Helen Anderson said police recorded 48 instances of graffiti in August, compared to 20 instances in July. That looks bad, but it's pretty typical.
"What we tend to see is an increase around the time that school starts," she said.
However, only 315 incidents had been reported for the first eight months of this year, compared to 526 incidents during the same period in 2008. That's the good news.
Provo Police Sgt. DeVon Jensen said increased enforcement most likely is the reason for the drop in tagging incidents. When the police find out about graffiti, they investigate, photograph it, look for witnesses, work with school resource officers to find out which teenagers are in gangs and what their gang names and symbols are.
About two weeks ago a group tagged a large section of the city and did thousands of dollars in damage; after some extensive investigating, five people were arrested, he said.
"This year, as a result of that I believe, hasn't been as bad as last year," Jensen said.
Some of the graffiti is gang-related, some is from teens showing off their artistic ability in a less-than-productive way, and almost all of it comes from teenagers or sometimes young adults. The school year does tend to bring out the spray paint.
"Kids are trying to establish their territory, let each other know who they are," he said.
The government often seeks financial restitution to pay for the cleanup of graffiti. Jensen said judges in the 4th District Juvenile Court often require juveniles to work off fines by assigning them to work with Teens Against Graffiti and clean up graffiti throughout the city.
Two years ago, Provo paid Teens Against Graffiti $23,488 for the cleanup, which includes only materials, Jensen said. This year the Municipal Council gave the fire department a $25,000 graffiti cleanup budget for the areas along the Provo River Parkway Trail, with TAG cleaning the rest of the city.
Fences, bridges and public parks tend to be popular targets for taggers, although the smiley face painted on a pedestrian bridge over the Provo River at about 800 West and 900 North usually isn't forced into cheeriness. Resident Antonita Trebesch, who has lived across the street from that bridge for 30 years, said she's never noticed graffiti there before. But it's there now.
"They usually are pretty good around this area, but I don't know," she said. "Something is up in Provo."
• Heidi Toth can be reached at (801) 344-2556 or htoth@heraldextra.com.
Posted in Provo on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 12:20 am Updated: 2:20 pm. | Tags: Provo, Graffiti, Tagging, Gang Activity, Provo Police Department
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