Graffiti Up in Oak Park

As graffiti tagging increased in cities across the country, reported graffiti incidents in Oak Park jumped nearly 70 percent in 2011.

The upsurge came after three years of declining incident reports in the village, according to crime statistics gathered from the Oak Park Police Department.

Across the country, several major and middle-size cities reported an uptick in graffiti last year. Here in Oak Park, authorities registered 167 complaints in 2011, up from 99 in 2010, 113 in 2009 and 135 in 2008.

Earlier: Oak Parker Tagged with Graffiti Charge

“Like most criminal activities, it ebbs and flows,” said Det. Sgt. Michael Richardson of the Oak Park Police Department. Over time, he said,“there’s not a straight-line trend.”

In other cities the rise in graffiti has led officials to speculate that the economic recession might be provoking higher numbers of unemployed—and alienated—young people into tagging. Others find blame in museum exhibits and a broader culture that present graffiti as urban street art, not a form of vandalism.

Still others speculate that new smart phone apps, which allow users to share and track graffiti sites, could be giving taggers more incentive, and savvy.

Conversely, smart phone users in some cities can now report tagging more easily by taking photos with GPS tags and uploading them to city web sites.

Cities fighting graffiti have varied in their responses, with budget constraints mostly shaping lawmakers’ decision-making about the problem. In Chicago, which has not reported a significant upturn in graffiti, city officials reduced its budget for graffiti removal to $3.3 million.

Suburban Grayslake took its graffiti problem head-on by forbidding the sale of spray paint and wide-tip markers to unaccompanied young people. The city announced last month that those under 18 will now need accompanying parents to purchase the supplies.

Oak Park already restricts the sale of products it deems “graffiti implements.”

Store owners who sell spray paint and other instruments used for graffiti must keep the products in plain sight or behind the counter to reduce theft. Retailers who violate this ordinance face fines of up to $1,000, and may have to compensate property owners to the tune of up to $1,500.

Richardson says the majority of graffiti in Oak Park is not gang-related. Taggers, mostly young people, target high-visibility areas like the railroad tracks along Interstate 290, he said.

Oak Park property owners must clean off graffiti within seven days of notification by the Village, or the Village removes the graffiti and sends a bill.

“We look at it from the standpoint of, if graffiti goes unaddressed, it invites more graffiti,” Richardson said. “The more we can eradicate it, the more it’s discouraged.”

Graffiti may be reported by calling the graffiti hotline at (708) 358-5429. The Village’s Community Relations department provides Graffiti X, a cleaning solution, to property owners free of cost.