By James DeWeese
Speaking at Borough Hall, Sgt. Dwayne Palmer of Queens Patrol Borough North's graffiti task force said the Police Department was taking a zero-tolerance approach to the crime he said is far more than a public nuisance in areas across the county. “Graffiti is a crime, period – end of sentence,” said Palmer, who has been at the helm of the graffiti task force for about 12 weeks. “Whenever an area has something that is out of order – such as graffiti – it creates an atmosphere of lawlessness and disorder.”Removing graffiti, which takes the form of everything from simple “tags” written in marker to elaborate spray-painted murals, can cost the city and its taxpayers billions of dollars every year, Palmer said.To combat what Palmer called a “plague,” the Police Department recently created an 80-member Citywide Vandals Taskforce, blending two separate enforcement groups, and began offering a reward of as much as $500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of graffiti vandals, Palmer said. Officers have assembled a database of tags and also trawl the Internet for photos posted by attention-starved vandals.The problem, Palmer said, is serious enough that the department has adopted a zero-tolerance approach, jailing juveniles as young as 11 years old. “Yeah, we're locking kids up for this,” he said of even simple professions of love drawn out on the walls of high school hallways.In recent months, police have noted an increase in the number of gang-related tags along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor, Palmer said. Apparent gang members have engaged in a battle of tags – crossing out each others' symbols and leaving threatening messages – that can sometimes escalate to physical violence, Palmer said. Products such as a commonly sold beverage called “Graffi-Tea” and graffiti-themed children's toys help create an atmosphere of acceptance, making vandalism difficult to combat, Palmer said.Graffiti can go up in the blink of an eye. Palmer said the department has a videotape of a team of vandals who were able to cover a building's facade with graffiti in less than seven seconds. And some of the best-known graffiti vandals thrive on the attention their repeat attacks draw, Palmer said, pointing to the case of a teen accused of writing the tag “VAMP,” who was recently charged with one felony count and 60 misdemeanor counts of vandalism.When VAMP was collared and confronted with photos of his alleged crimes, Palmer said he asked police, “Can I get some copies of them when I'm done so I can show them to my friends?”The City Council already offers its own reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of vandals, and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) also is considering a piece of legislation that would limit the sale of spray paint to licensed contractors. The Queens district attorney's office has three lawyers dedicated to graffiti and gang cases, Palmer said. And Marshall's office has a longstanding task force, which helps coordinate community clean-up efforts.”The level of sophistication of organization is much better now than when I was back there fighting graffiti on Astoria Boulevard on my own,” Marshall said of ongoing efforts in the borough to combat graffiti. Marshall said she hoped to have local organizations band together to negotiate better prices on the protective anti-graffiti coating that has proven successful along stretches of the rebuilt Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. It can cost anywhere from $25 to $100 a gallon.”Starting in April, I will have my officers out in the streets taking care of these graffiti problems,” said Palmer, who added that he also needs the public's help. Those who witness a vandal in progress should call 911. Otherwise, reports should be phoned in to the city's non-emergency line 311.Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
