Crackdown on graffiti

Graffiti is on the rise in Rochester.  And the city wants it cleaned up.  Mayor Bob Duffy and Police Chief David Moore say they’re cracking down.  They've put together a team called the “Defacer Erasers” that have a whole truck of  tools to remove the graffiti.  "Everywhere I drive I see it.  I see it on the East side.  The West Side.  It's sickening.  It really is.  It's on people's property buildings.  It speaks poorly of our city.  We need to stop it," said Mayor Duffy.

The city says there are three types of graffiti and they're all crimes.  One is muralists looking for a space to express their artistic side.  The second and most common is tagging, where kids write their name to get attention.  The third is gang graffiti, where gangs mark their territory by spray painting their symbol.  This alone can entice violence.  "Gang graffiti is about telling a story and who's doing what.  It gives us a chance to interpret a message.  It certainly is a public bulletin board," said Chief Moore.

 He says his officers are on the lookout for these hidden messages.  "We can read what it means.  It certainly does give us an amount of intelligence.  It gives us an opportunity to identify the person who signs a signature," said Chief Moore.

Police can usually locate the person or people responsible if there is a signature.

 City Hall wants anyone who sees graffiti  taking place to call 428-9300 or  911.  It's the first step suggested by a Graffiti Task Force.  Pictures of existing graffiti are also being taken, those are going into a database to keep track of where certain tags pop up.  Among the other suggestions, creating a public space where graffiti art can go up legally and make it a focus of the "Clean Sweep" citywide beautification project.