by Const. Khoa Hoang
Ottawa Police Service
Living next to me is a sweet little old lady who fits all of the stereotypes that come to mind. She has a strong personality, a good sense of humour, and has lived alone since her husband passed away years ago. In many ways, she reminds me of my grandmother, who was equally independent and active within the community.
Last month, someone decided to tag the side of my neighbour’s house with black spray paint. Shortly afterwards, a second tag appeared in blue spray paint. Being a good neighbour and police officer, I provided her with one of our graffiti removal kits (free at my office,) which she used to remove the unsightly tags.
Within a week, three tags replaced the two that had just been removed. This not only made me angry, but my natural protective side also kicked in, wanting to catch the person who would intentionally target such an innocent, vulnerable member of our society.
Graffiti is a big problem in our city for both residential and commercial properties. It’s a bigger problem than most people are aware of and costs all of us millions of dollars every single year. Graffiti is not a victimless crime. If left unattended within our community it can spread and create a domino effect that will create more difficult problems to solve.
Criminals who commit mischief by graffiti believe they have a right to claim territory with their tags. Tagging over someone else’s graffiti is considered disrespectful, which is ironic considering the crime itself. The subculture within the graffiti community is very strong and often leads to violent encounters between criminals who disrespect each other’s work.
The individuals whom I’ve arrested have shown no remorse for their actions and have a skewed belief that every property is available to be claimed through tagging. This includes property such as mailboxes, street signs, buildings, busses, and even our highways. This anti-social culture dictates that a higher risk of getting caught equals a higher level of respect.
I have no patience for these misguided criminals, typically youths who are seeking acceptance and self-esteem, who target our neighbourhood without care or consideration. The reality is that by the time our police officers arrest one suspect, 50 properties have been damaged, costing everyone thousands in repairs. Business owners are forced by the City of Ottawa to remove graffiti immediately, or face an automatic bill for the removal work.
Some business owners simply can’t afford to pay $500 every week to have new graffiti removed. Unfortunately, they are forced to make the regular cleanup or face expensive fines. Either way, it affects our economy, leaving hard working business and property owners to clean up a mess they did not make.
The Ottawa Police Service would like to empower our residents to take charge! It’s true, the more quickly graffiti is removed from an area, the less likely it is to return. These misfits can’t claim a property among the graffiti subculture if no one sees their work.
Public transportation services belonging to Canadians suffer millions in lost revenue every year due to mischief. Toronto’s TTC spends a whopping $5 million annually because of mischief, and OC Transpo reports budgeting a significant amount for similar repairs.
Crime Stoppers (1-800-222-TIPS) is an excellent service to use if you have information to give but want to remain anonymous. They even have an online service (crimestoppers.ca) to make submitting information quick and easy.
The City of Ottawa has a Graffiti Management Team, which should be contacted immediately to report any case of graffiti by calling 3-1-1 or by emailing them at graffitimanagement@ottawa.ca. It’s important to do so because tracking graffiti is half the battle in identifying the next potential target.
Our police officers use the information you provide to set up undercover operations. Last year, we conducted regular projects that yielded multiple arrests every time we went out. But enforcement alone has never been enough to reduce criminal activity. Education such as this article also plays an important role, and prevention begins at home with parental support, so that one day we might all wake up in the morning and not have our home claimed by a criminal.