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As you drive to work each morning, you see the eyesore created by the overnight activities of most prolific group of graffiti vandals in your neighbourhood. Do you think of your own teenage son or daughter and ask yourself the questions, "Is my son or daughter involved in this criminal activity?" Well, maybe you should! If you think that your kids could not possibly be taggers, think again. Taggers are generally members of small loosely knit groups of adolescents, many from middle and upper income families, whose primary source of entertainment and excitement is the vandalism of private property with "Tagger Graffiti." Your child could be a member of one of these groups.
"How do I find out if my kids are tagging?" you ask. A simple investigation of your child's room and personal property could lead to an answer. Does your child create and keep cartoon-like art in a folder or sketchbook? These books are called "piece books" and are often used to practice graffiti prior to a planned act of vandalism.
Does your child have a nickname that is primarily used by his or her friends or does he or she refer to friends with nicknames? Does he or she write scribbled words with a marker on items of personal property, like shoes, notebooks, hats, and book covers? Active taggers generally record their tag names and tag names of their friends in such places. If you see this writing, look for similar writing on the walls and curbing in the neighbourhood near your home or near the school that your child attends.
Does your child have access to spray paint? Does he have a collection of paint can spray tips? This is common practice amongst taggers. Does your child sneak out of the house late at night to spend time with his friends? Where do they go? What do they do? If your child is out of control in this way, the chances are very strong that he or she is involved in graffiti vandalism.
Obviously, each of these factors, alone, does not necessarily point to tagging; however, together they make a commissioning circumstantial case. As a parent, you have a legal and moral responsibility to find out what your child is doing when he or she is not a home. If you do not know you should find out for the child's sake, as well as your own, since you may be liable for your failure to control the child's behaviour.
There are three distinct types of graffiti vandalism and motivations:
Hate Crime Graffiti - This graffiti is motivated by personal or group prejudice, hatred, dispute, racial or religious discrimination, and is the rarest type.
Gang Graffiti - This graffiti is generally perpetrated by members of street gangs whose primary purpose is to announce the superiority of a specific street gang in a specific neighbourhood, the gang's "turf." These gangs are normally involved with other criminal activity such as break and enters and drug.
Tagger Graffiti - This graffiti is committed by individuals and groups of kids for the sole purpose of establishing identity and recognition for themselves among their peers, generally other taggers. Putting their tag names up in highly visible areas or dangerous places increases the recognition, or "fame" value of the effort.
The individual taggers adopt pseudonyms or nicknames, usually four to six letters, like "Syke," "Waxx," "Krono," "Popz", "Jagz," numbers can be used as well, like "532" and "301." The number of displays or the size of the area in which the graffiti appears measures the prestige of the individual tagger or crew. Taggers usually associate with other taggers in groups called crews.
The prosecution and conviction of taggers is a difficult task. For this reason, the police department needs your assistance in reporting graffiti and identifying taggers. It is important that neighbours help each other to clean up their neighbourhood and make it a safer living environment.
For more information contact your local Council or Police
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