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LA city attorney is after graffiti taggers
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Graffiti is seen on a sign near a new townhouse construction site March 3, 2009 in Compton, California.
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The Los Angeles city attorney wants police to be able to arrest graffiti taggers for hanging out with one another, regardless of whether they’ve committed a crime.
Carmen Trutanich, who took office in July, told KPCC’s Larry Mantle that law enforcement agencies throughout L.A. County have problems with graffiti.
Carmen Trutanich: “They have seen a marked increase in these graffiti tagging gangs, taking to weapons and fighting to protect their walls, their territory, their names. And I can only assume the city is experiencing the same.”
The city of Los Angeles logged 600,000 reports of graffiti in the last year and spent $7 million on graffiti cleanup.
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Taggers are targeting stores, rail lines, phone booths, buses, and police cars.
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