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.
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County, Community Partners Target Area Graffiti
Residents Urged to Report Graffiti; Vandals Face Prosecution
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. The case number is: C22092A/B/C.
“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 theydo not carethat 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.
Public Outreach & Expanded Service
The county worked with the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition, comprised of members from local police and government agencies as well as business and homeowners groups, to develop a new campaign called, “Targeting Area Graffiti.” Elements include a website section linked from the front page of the county’s website at www.accessclarkcounty.com and Clark County Television (CCTV) Channel 4 public service announcements. The first TV announcement and billboards donated by the REALTORS® and Outdoor Promotions urge residents and neighborhood groups to call the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition Hotline at 455-4509 to report graffiti, request paint for clean ups or volunteer for clean-up efforts. The hotline, a recorded message line staffed by Clark County Public Response personnel, receives about 140 calls a month. Calls are returned or referred to appropriate jurisdictions
within 24 hours. The county has three full-time painters devoted to cleaning up graffiti and assisting with hotline requests. As part of the county’s plan, Public Response has expanded its program to
give away paint to community groups that want to help clean up graffiti. Paint and supplies will be available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Groups need to call ahead to make an appointment to pick up materials.
“The hotline is primarily a referral service that we coordinate with the various cities in the valley,” said Chief Code Enforcement Officer Joe Boteilho. “We do not have the resources to do all the clean ups in the county ourselves, so we’re offering the public an opportunity to come and get the supplies they need five days a week, instead of one day a week. With the public’s help, we can get the job done faster.”
The Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® donated a billboard to promote the hotline. The sign, located on Interstate 15 between the Charleston Boulevard and Sahara exits, faces southbound traffic. The billboard will rotate to different spots around the valley for a year. The group also plans to encourage members to report graffiti and get involved in clean-up efforts.
“Graffiti has a definite impact on property values if it’s prevalent in a neighborhood,” said Linda Rheinberger, president of the REALTORS® Association. “It’s bad for the community, and our membership is interested in working with the county and the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition to assist in the effort to fight graffiti in any way we can.”
Officials say a key to getting rid of graffiti is to clean it up as fast as possible. Once graffiti is visible on a wall or building, the property becomes a magnet for more graffiti.
“Our shelters are frequent targets of graffiti vandals, and we know first hand that the key to getting rid of graffiti is to clean it up fast,” said Gary Young, owner of Outdoor Promotions Inc. “We’re happy to help promote the hotline and encourage more community involvement in cleaning up graffiti.”
Outdoor Promotions Inc. placed billboards in 60 shelters valleywide featuring the graffiti hotline and one of four messages: report graffiti; free paint available to cover up graffiti; retailers urged to lock up spray paint; and volunteers needed to clean up graffiti through resident-created Neighborhood Pride Zones. Clark County’s Neighborhood Pride Zone program helps residents organize grass-roots efforts to beautify and preserve their neighborhoods. The county has 48 active Neighborhood Pride Zones.
Following today’s news conference, Commissioner Williams and county staff will hold a neighborhood meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at Joe Shoong Park to establish a Pride Zone and organize clean-up activities in the Vegas Manor area bordered by Charleston Boulevard, Sahara Avenue, Nellis Boulevard and U.S. 95. The park is located at 1503 Wesley St., the same site of today’s event unveiling the county’s new anti-graffiti plan. Thursday’s meeting location will be in the picnic area near Colorado Avenue and Wesley Street. Clean-up activities in the Vegas Manor area are expected to start Monday, March 20.
