Results tagged “graffititaskforce”

Score one for the Mayor's Anti-Graffiti Task Force: The NYPD arrested 34 year old Patrick McCormick, tag Map, yesterday. McCormick was on the NYPD's 50 "Worst of the Worst" graffiti vandals list. The thing is, McCormick was arrested after smashing the window of an A train in front of a police officer, who was behind him. It was on Saturday afternoon, near the Beach 98th Street stop in Rockaway. The police suspect that McCormick was trying to destroy a rival's tag, but the head of the transit bureau James Hall said, "He broke the window so we weren't able to determine that for sure."

We're pretty sure that City Councilman Peter Vallone has a rolodex of statements ready to give whenever there's a graffiti arrest in Queens, but this is the first time Gothamist has heard Queens DA Richard Brown weigh in on graf. With the arrests of two men for "criminal mischief and making graffiti", Brown said, "City officials and anti-graffiti activists have done a remarkable job over the years in cleaning up New York City's image as a graffiti-scarred city. We cannot allow vandals to mar the beauty of our city and return us to the days when our transit system and our highways and buildings were covered with graffiti." According to AM New York, Peter Korolis used the tag Kaspo and may face up to 4 years in jail while Kevin Varela, who tagged under "Toon 84" (his stuff can be seen in Queens and Brooklyn), faces up to 1 year.

The NY Times looks at the "cat and mouse game" between the graffiti artists and the police. There are a couple factions: Those who fly under the radar to tag illegally, the taggers who go "legit" and take commercial commissions, and the police who try to stop the illegal taggers. The Mayor upped the ante by forming the anti-graffiti crime unit (the Mayor's Anti-Graffiti Task Force) earlier this year, and one graffiti writer, Ray (tag: PRIZ), told the Times, "When the 'goon squad' first started cracking down, a lot of people went out there with the attitude, 'We're going to get over tonight.' So of course, they got caught." The police are keeping tabs on graffiti websites, even as the taggers "map out targets and plot escape routes...go out exclusively at night, favoring rooftops and boarded-up buildings that aren't likely to be painted over quickly, if at all." While the NYPD says it's one of the most expansive anti-graffiti programs in the country, we doubt graffiti (or street art, for that matter) can be held down, as it's a natural response to life that's been around for thousands of years. For any mayor to successfully rid a city of graffiti, the city would need to be burned down. Anyway, ee can sense City Councilman Peter Vallone's office immediately issuing a press release that's picked up by the Daily News where he blasts the Times for giving the taggers coverage!

As for the rest of the episode, it was the usual extremely disturbing fare, with mentions of bite marks on a penis plus much much more. If you missed it, it'll rerun on USA soon enough.

The Mayor outlined his anti-graffiti plan yesterday, saying, "Graffiti is something for which our administration has zero tolerance...[it's] an invitation to criminal behavior." He formally announced that the antivandalism units of the NYPD and transit police would combine to form a graffiti-crime fighting unit, an idea mentioned and started last summer. The Times reported that since the formation of the new unit, there's been a 20% increase in arrests, contributing to a 78% increase in graffiti-related crimes for 2004. Tools that the police will be using: A database to track graffiti crime patterns (especially targetting repeat and the top 100 offenders), infrared cameras, and a reward program that offers $500 to anyone who reports a graffiti incident that results in an arrest and conviction. Gothamist understands why the mayor feels he needs to do that, as many neighborhood groups, especially in the Bronx, complain about graffiti, but in some instances, it can be a way for people to express themselves. And Gothamist wonders if graffiti and street art are one and the same to the Mayor.

According to the Daily News, the NYPD may be considering disbanding the street anti-graffiti and vandalism unit that was created during the Giuliani administration. Why? The NYPD is looking into maximizing the efficiency of the different police squads; the anti-graffiti cops would be folded into the Transit Bureau vandals squad. However, the DN reports that some police officers are concerned they are going to be chasing "crooks who steal copper wires from subway stations" versus spray paint-toting "hoodlums." No changes have been finalized - it's simply at the discussion level. Gothamist finds this an interesting look at how manpower is deployed on the NYPD. Could shifting the number of cops on the transit vandals beat help prevent subway crime? Probably...which makes us wonder if transit cops will be chasing photobloggers taking pictures on the subway as well as calling in photobloggers to give up the goods on graf they capture around the city.

A great photograph from overshadowed that shows how city signage and graffiti come together beautifully.