Squamish Taggers! It would appear that many of our active taggers display a lack of social conscience or understanding that writing their tag on someone else’s property is a violation not only of the criminal code but of the victim themselves. The small business owner who has to clean up his property every morning, a public transit system that has to replace etched windows, a school board that cannot buy new computer equipment or sports supplies because they are spending a quarter of a million dollars each school year to clean up graffiti vandalism… who is the real victim? The community is, and we must make our active taggers understand that they are a part of the community and therefore, they are victimizing themselves. HOW TO SPOT A TAGGER – WHAT TO LOOK FOR •Clothing is baggie and loose, (khaki’s favoured). Baggie sweatshirts with hoods and baseball hats. •Pants with pockets for felt markers, (cargo pants ideal). •Backpack full of spray paints and graffiti tools. •Out late night, and early morning. Taggers work mostly under cover of darkness, dusk to dawn. •Graffiti / doodling on personal items, (school books, skateboards, under the brim of their baseball hat, etc). •Graffiti and hip hop posters up in room and read graffiti magazines. •Have a wide variation of markers for graffiti and “Hello My Name is” stickers, and spray paint. •Multiple spray can head, “CAPS, FAT, SKINNY’ refer to interchangeable spray can nozzles to allow for various spray width and coverage. •Has a sketchbook, (piece book) for practice. •Schoolbooks have repetitive scrawling, (graffiti), and/or cartoon like drawings on them. •“RACKING”, the graffiti term for stealing; shoplifting spray paint, markers, or graffiti supplies. •Carries camera and photographs graffiti. If you know who our most prolific taggers are, please contact the police or Crime Stoppers. Flop, HESH, Athunz and Kesto are of particular interest!
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:35:48 +0000