Security issue: Graffiti

Grafitti on a storefront in New York

Grafitti is the defacement of property by means of writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed on a surface in a public place without the consent of the owner or person having custody or control.

Description

Motives for graffiti are various and the type of graffiti varies with the motives. A classification of types of graffiti with the associated features is presented in http://www.popcenter.org/problems/graffiti/. This classification is presented in the table below.

Types of Graffiti and Associated Motives
Type of Graffiti	Features	Motives
Gang	Gang name or symbol, including hand signs Gang member name(s) or nickname(s), or sometimes a roll-call listing of members Numbers. Distinctive, stylized alphabets. Key visible locations Enemy names and symbols, or allies' names	Mark turf Threaten violence Boast of achievements Honor the slain Insult/taunt other gangs
Common Tagger	High-volume, accessible locations High-visibility, hard-to-reach locations May be stylized but simple name or nickname tag or symbols. Tenacious (keep re-tagging).	Notoriety or prestige Defiance of authority.
Artistic Tagger	Colourful and complex pictures known as masterpieces or pieces.	Artistic Prestige or recognition.
Conventional Graffiti: Spontaneous	Sporadic episodes or isolated incidents.	Play Rite of passage Excitement, impulsive.
Conventional Graffiti: Malicious or Vindictive	Sporadic, isolated or systematic incidents.	Anger Boredom Resentment Failure Despair
Ideological	Offensive content or symbols Racial, ethnic or religious slurs Specific targets, such as synagogues. Highly legible Slogans.	Anger Hate Political Hostility Defiance

Contributing circumstances

Known circumstances to influence the likelihood or effect of graffiti, are presented in the table below:

Contributing Circumstance	Influence	Description
Shops in the area	Increases likelihood of being selected target	Retailing and manufacturing premises have a much greater chance of falling victim to vandalism than domestic premises.
Presence of adolescents.	Increases the number of potential offenders.	Studies consistently find graffiti artist to be young (under 23, some studies point towards younger ages).
Vulnerable objects in area	Increases number of targets.	Graffiti can appear almost any place open to public view, but graffiti artist show a preference for blank, smooth, light surfaces, which are visible and reachable. Examples of popular places are transportation systems and shelters, walls facing streets; street, freeway and traffic signs; statues and monuments and bridges. In addition, it appears on vending machines, park benches,utility poles, utility boxes, billboards, trees, streets, sidewalks, parking garages, schools, business and residence walls, garages, fences, and sheds.
High levels of graffiti in the vicinity.	Increases likelihood of targeting.	Graffiti artists do not travel far for their work; typically these are locations of opportunity. This means that being close to an area with a high graffiti activity will increase the risk of grafitti, especially if there will be regular traffic flows between the areas.
Low level of social monitoring.	Decreases level of social correction.	A decreased perceived risk of detection and correction decreases the perceived need for restraint of unwanted behaviour.
Low level of physical monitoring (e.g. cameras).	Decreases likelihood of detection.	This reduces the possibilities of intervening and increases the likelihood of the conflict escalating. Low levels of physical monitoring contributes to less enforcement of the law, which undermines other efforts to prevent assault and other crimes occurring.
Long reaction times or inadequate action of reaction force.	Decreases likelihood of apprehension	Untimely or inappropriate reactions to violence lead to a perception of little control, which will increase perceived risk for the public and decrease perceived risk for the perpetrators. Also, reducing the impact of an assault (by timely intervention) will also be impossoble and lead to greater effects of incidents.
Incompatible zonings.	Increases of the likelihood of conflict.	Incompatible zonings, and activities therein, can increase the likelihood of vulnerable groups and potential offenders meeting. The composition and compatibility of adjoining land uses should be sufficiently considered by urban planners.
High levels of unemployment	Increases likelihood of targeting	High levels of unemployment are associated with higher levels of vandalism.
Low levels of ownership	Decreases the inhibitions for committing the crime	Uncertainty of ownership can reduce responsibility and increase the likelihood of crime and anti-social behaviour going unchallenged.
Low levels of maintenance	Decreases the inhibitions for committing the crime	Studies showed that low levels of maintenance and aesthetic quality are associated with high rates of vandalism. Designing for easy maintenance and a (for the user) pleasing aesthetic appearance can therefore reduce the risk of graffiti.

Impacts

Social impact

Known social impacts of "graffitism" include changing citizens perception of (in)security and fear of crime. This usually happens in a way that has an effect on the gap between "felt" and "factual" security, since individuals tend to make - correct or incorrect - reasoning on societal security as a whole based on immediate environmental clues. This is known as the "broken glass phenomenon".

Economic impact

Graffiti (as a form of vandalism) leads to considerable costs in both a direct (primary) and a indirect (secondary) way. Direct costs of graffiti come in the form of:

• Preventive costs in anticipation of graffiti as a form of vandalism (e.g. security measures, insurance);
• Material and immaterial costs as a consequence of graffiti (e.g. physical damage, clean up costs, repairs, medical costs, mental harm); and
• Responsive costs to graffiti (e.g. the costs of detection and prevention, prosecution, support trial, etc.).

In general, the (direct) costs to repair, replace, and clean up property defaced by graffiti are paid for by the communities, private property owners, small business and public agencies. Moreover, the presence of graffiti can trigger secondary economic impacts. Although most research studies conclude that criminal offences such as vandalism and graffiti can have a significant negative impact on real estate prices , there is still no real consensus on the extent of this impact. Moreover, graffiti vandalism can have a negative impact on local businesses (as consumers decide to shop in other places), and can lead to the potential loss of funding for community organisation, youth groups and school programs.

Mobility impact

Often tunnels and fences near roads and railways or buses and railway vehicles are uglified (or decorated) with graffiti. However, this doesn't cause a direct impact on mobility. It will only add costs for local governments and public transport companies as explained above in economic impacts, and may lead to reduced traffic safety as explained below for safety impact.

Safety impact

Graffiti on traffic signs may lead to dangerous situations as warnings can no longers be seen.

Measures

Potential measures that can mitigate the likelihood or impact of graffiti include:

• Target hardening by for example impregnating walls with paint-resistant coatings or making particularly attractive walls hard to reach can greatly increase the effort needed to vandalise the object and thereby reduce the attractiveness of an object.
• Surveillance can be effective to detect crime and if overt, to deter potential criminals by raising the perceived risk of apprehension. It can incur high costs if implemented as dedicated observers, either on location or remote. A more natural form of surveillance is surveillance by the inhabitants (also known as 'natural surveillance'), which can also be effective, provided that the commercial area is inhabited and the inhabitants have a good surveillability.
• Reaction force is needed to make detection measures, such as alarms or surveillance, effective.
• Directing traffic flows can be effective in reducing the chance for potential graffiti artists to approach vulnerable areas, reducing the visibility of potential targets to criminals. By providing clear and logical routes through an area, unnecessary passing traffic can be avoided.
• Target removal By removing the attractive elements of particularly vulnerable objects from high-risk locations, vandalism can in some case be effectively reduced. An example of doing this would be to make walls dark and irregular.
• Ownership is an important aspect in the prevention of vandalism by creating a clear distinction between public and private space. By providing a clear distinction between public and private property, unwanted entry is more easily detected and requires a greater mental effort which reduces the number of opportunities for crime.
• Maintenance and designing for easy maintenance can be used as the removal of a crime motivator, as deterioration can be an incentive to various forms of crime. Consistent and quick removal of graffiti will discourage repeat offenders, although some can be tenacious.
• Deflection
  

  Dedicated wall for graffiti in Barcelona, Spain
  : providing a legal place to perform graffiti paintings may reduce the inconvenience for the surrounding area.