Graffiti News

HALIFAX - Det.-Const. James Bennett has spent three years educating himself about graffiti and the culture that surrounds it.

“We’re no different than any other city in Canada. This is a problem nationwide,” said the Halifax Regional Municipality officer, adding that like any other crime, graffiti is a priority for the police.

“It’s mischief under the Criminal Code of Canada and it affects everybody. It affects quality of life, it intimidates people; they feel there’s a gang problem because they automatically assume graffiti is related to gangs.”

Bennett, a member of the city’s graffiti task force, said some of the graffiti in Halifax is gang-related but the majority is hip-hop graffiti, aimed at earning recognition for the person wielding the spray paint.

Police divide graffiti into eight categories, including hate crime graffiti, Satanic cult and political activism, but hip-hop makes up 80 to 90 per cent of it. Within hip-hop graffiti, there are three styles: tags (single colour, one dimensional), throw ups (two dimensional, two colour — the bubble style), and pieces, or masterpieces, the most elaborate.

“As police, we try to deal with it because graffiti can lead to other crimes, whether it’s trying to lure people into gangs, or intimidate people, or turf wars, just that whole social decline where people are afraid to go out and enjoy parks because they don’t feel safe anymore,” he said.

Arrests for graffiti in Halifax have become more common since more police officers have been added to the streets, and officers, newly educated about its effects, are taking graffiti more seriously.

Police arrested one teenager who was practising his style of graffiti on a notebook while in school. His teacher seized the notebook and turned it over to police, who matched the font to graffiti at a bus stop.

“It’s like having writing analysis done,” said Bennett.

“It’s difficult to catch somebody because they do it mostly under the cover of darkness, anywhere from two in the morning to five in the morning. It’s very quick; it can take (as little as) 30 seconds to do something very simple or they’ll come back over time and finish what they call a masterpiece.”

People arrested for the first time typically are fined or sentenced to community service. Some are referred to the Restorative Justice Program. Bennett doesn’t think stiffer penalties would serve as a deterrent.

“We’ve tried a number of things — creating ‘free walls’ for them to use — but we’ve found that graffiti spreads graffiti,” he said.

“Whether they’re allowed to do it in a spot or not, they tend to gather, a bleeding effect occurs from there and it spreads.

So the only proven method to combat graffiti is to remove it within 24 hours.

[Via:timestranscript.canadaeast.com]

[Via:www.pittsburghlive.com]

A Highland Park man admitted Friday that he caused nearly $300,000 in damage during an 18-month graffiti vandalism spree.

Daniel J. Montano’s guilty plea to 79 criminal mischief counts capped a week in which neighbors saw a rash of graffiti across the city that police say was intended to honor Pittsburgh’s self-proclaimed graffiti king.

Defense attorney William Cercone Jr. said Montano, 22, made a poor choice of friends and had a drug problem, which caused him to squander his artistic talent.

“He understands what he did is wrong,” Cercone said. “This is a hell of an eye opener for him. He has an opportunity to do something legitimate with the artistic talent he has rather than spraying cans all over buildings.” Jet Lafean, a member of Schenley Farms Neighborhood Watch, took offense at Cercone’s portrayal of his client as an artist.

“He’s not an artist,” Lafean said. “He has no talent. He’s an urban terrorist.”

Lafean said Montano’s graffiti spree spanned years, plaguing the neighborhoods of Lawrenceville, East Liberty, Bloomfield, Shadyside and Oakland.

Montano admitted causing $299,301.40 in damage, and prosecutors say they will seek that amount as restitution for the victims. He faces up to 130 years in jail and $307,400 in fines when he is sentenced July 24 by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski.

City police described Montano as the country’s most prolific graffiti artist. They said he’s caused nearly $750,000 in property damage from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, where his mother lives.

Montano has been behind bars since January. He was arrested a day before a show including his work at the Mattress Factory, a North Side museum for contemporary art.

Wearing a dark suit and shackles yesterday, he glanced at family members and a friend and smirked before being escorted out of the courtroom.

His parents declined to comment, and he did not speak in court.

Vandals this week spray-painted “Forgive” on three Lawrenceville properties in what police and community activists called a tribute to Montano.

“There is some indication that there’s some relation, just by the timing of it,” said Detective Dan Sullivan of the police bureau’s anti-graffiti squad.

Sullivan said graffiti is up significantly this week, particularly in Uptown and Lawrenceville. He said some of the work was done by one of Montano’s rivals — a crew known as FTC, or Full Time Crime.

Montano — best known by the tags “MFONE” and “MF” — was a member of the crews NSF (Not Strictly Freights) and JYK (Jive Young Kids), Sullivan said.

Tony Ceoffe, director of the community organization Lawrenceville United, said tougher sentences are needed to combat graffiti.

“No more of the slap on the wrist kind of thing,” Ceoffe said. “(Graffiti vandals) think county jail is a joke. They need a reality check.”

[Via:By THE CANADIAN PRESS]

SASKATOON - A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for an alleged graffiti artist over fears that he might be trying to leave the country.

Police allege samples of graffiti tags by Victor Briestensky distributed by Vancouver police match tags on two buildings in Saskatoon. Investigators allege the samples also match graffiti in Regina. Police say they believe Briestensky, 20, is travelling to Montreal and may leave Canada.

Briestensky faces two counts of mischief under $5,000 and four counts of beach of a recognizance.

Saskatoon police are co-ordinating the hunt for Briestensky with the assistance of police in Vancouver, Regina and Calgary.

The graffiti samples were sent out over the Canada Graffiti Intel Network, which was created by the Saskatoon Police Service’s Anti-Graffiti Unit in 2006.

[Via:Stompdown]

Via:[Stompdown]

PITTSBURGH ― The man accused of leaving graffiti tags on many sites across Pittsburgh is headed back to court today.

Authorities say Daniel Montano, 22, is expected to try and plead guilty in a courtroom once again this morning.

He is facing 18 felony and 64 misdemeanor charges. He could be sentenced to more than 200 years in prison and faces $500,000 in fines.

Meanwhile, police say graffiti tags that read, ‘Forgiveness,’ are being left on sites in the Lawrenceville area.

Officials say Montano’s friends are hoping the judge will take it easy on him.