Graffiti wars Police fight back as battles between taggers get ugly

Graffiti wars Police fight back as battles between taggers get uglyBY TERRI SANGINITI • THE NEWS JOURNAL • FEBRUARY 15, 2009....The cost of cleaning up graffiti in Delaware hits "hundreds of thousands of dollars -- on the low end" each year, state highway officials say.

"What's really troubling is that cleaning up this graffiti is costing materials and manpower at a time when we're limiting litter pickup and grass cutting," said Darrell Cole of the state Department of Transportation.

While the recent spring-like weather lured more taggers out of their lairs, property in Delaware gets vandalized every day, said Misty Seemans, a DelDOT spokeswoman.

"The same people who are cleaning it up are the same workers replacing lights, filling potholes, fixing guardrails and replacing storm grates," she said. " ... We certainly do not consider graffiti an art at DelDOT." .....
Volunteers clean up

To help erase the damage, New Castle County Councilman Bob Weiner organized the Citizen Anti-Graffiti Brigade that DelDOT has come to rely on.

Created in fall 2007, the group of citizen volunteers regularly tackles graffiti in Brandywine Hundred and the Greenville area, using supplies donated by the state and paint companies to cover up graffiti almost as soon as it appears.

Before getting down to work, the volunteers -- who focus on underpasses beneath I-95, such as Darley Road, Shipley Road and Del. 141 in Greenville -- take photographs of vandalized sites so police can put the wall writers' monikers in a database to help solve the crimes. .....

GRAFFITI PENALTIES
Delaware last year beefed up its punishments for people caught painting graffiti.
$500 -- Minimum fine that cannot be suspended.
$2,300 -- Maximum fine.
Six months -- Maximum jail term for having tools used to paint graffiti, a misdemeanor.
One year -- Maximum sentence for causing property damage costing less than $1,500, a misdemeanor.
Two years -- Maximum sentence for causing property damage costing $1,500 or more, a felony.