Security issue: Graffiti
Contents
Security issue: Graffiti
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[1] | Gang name or symbol, including hand signs Gang member name(s) or nickname(s), or sometimes a roll-call listing of members Numbers[2] Distinctive, stylized alphabets[3] 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[4] | High-volume, accessible locations High-visibility, hard-to-reach locations May be stylized but simple name or nickname tag or symbols[5] 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 |
Attributing circumstances
- Other graffiti or deterioration
- Vulnerable objects
- transportation systems
- highly visible surfaces (also mobile targets, such as buses or trains!)
- blank surfaces
- light coloured surface
- large and plain surfaces
- reachable surfaces[6]
- Absence of apparent ownership
- Poor lighting
- Little surveillance/oversight
- Close to gang activity
- Male youth
Impacts
- Social
- Financial
Social impacts
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[7]. 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, persecution, 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[8].
Moreover, the presence of graffiti can trigger secondary economic impacts. Several studies found that criminal offences such as vandalism and graffiti have a significant negative impact on real estate prices [9]. 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[10].
Measures
- Understanding what makes an urban area attractive for graffiti (some will seek out highly visible areas, large surfaces and surfaces at a height from the ground, etc)
- Promoting or creating alternative activities for youths (e.g. youth clubs)
- Encourage dialogue among community groups, residence groups and institutions
- Rapid cleaning
- Anti-graffiti coating
- Surveillance/reaction force
- Non flat, dark or colourful surfaces
- Controlling access to vulnerable surfaces
- Electronic detection
- Targeted development control policies
Urban planners need to be more conscious of changes in contemporary post modernist youth behaviour. Planning needs must be cognisant of both utility of place and changing behavioural patterns[11].
Footnotes and references
- ↑ Copycat graffiti looks like gang graffiti, and may be the work of gang wanna-bes or youths seeking excitement.
- ↑ Offenders commonly use numbers as code in gang graffiti. A number may represent the corresponding position in the alphabet (e.g., 13 = M, for the Mexican Mafia), or represent a penal or police radio code.
- ↑ Stylized alphabets include bubble letters, block letters, backwards letters, and Old English script.
- ↑ Tagbangers, a derivative of tagging crews and gangs, are characterized by competition with other crews. Thus crossed-out tags are features of their graffiti.
- ↑ The single-line writing of a name is usually known as a tag, while slightly more complex tags, including those with two colours or bubble letters, are known as throw-ups.
- ↑ although hard-to-reach surfaces, such as motorway cross-overs might be regarded as attractive challenges
- ↑ Primary economic impact (or direct effects) are generally defined as the initial, immediate economic output generated by a specific cause (in this case a criminal offence). Secondary economic impact (or indirect effects) are generated each time a subsequent transaction is made, for example, the impact of crime on the real estate value in the neighbourhood.
- ↑ Graffiti Hurts Australia (2008). http://www.graffitihurts.com.au/cost.php
- ↑ See Gibbons, S. (2004). The costs of urban property crime. The Economic Journal, 114 (499). ISSN 0013-0133.
- ↑ See Graffiti Hurts Australia (2008). http://www.graffitihurts.com.au/cost.php
- ↑ S. BANDARANAIKE, “Graffiti Hotspots: Physical Environment or Human Dimension?” Paper presented at the Graffiti and Disorder Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology in conjunction with the Australian Local Government Association and held in Brisbane, 18-19 August, 2003, p.15
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