The Stockton City Council has taken an even more aggressive
approach to addressing the blight created by graffiti by
centralizing and increasing resources and encouraging the community
to get involved with both clean-up and reporting vandals.
The Stockton City Council unanimously approved a resolution to
increase the resources for graffiti clean-up and the reward offered
to those willing to report vandals. All graffiti clean-up is now
centralized under the Police Department; 3 trucks were added to the
fleet, totaling 6 trucks dedicated to combating graffiti; five
additional staff members have been added to graffiti clean-up crews
and overtime has been authorized to make certain that clean-up
occurs quickly. The reward amount for tips leading to the arrest of
vandals has been increased from up to $300 to allow for awards of up
to $1,000.
The City of Stockton already had one of the most stringent
graffiti ordinances in the country. The ordinance was enhanced in
January
2007 to include additional penalties, requiring property owners
to assist with removing and preventing graffiti on private property
and holding parents accountable for graffiti vandalism done by their
minor children. Even with such an aggressive ordinance on the books,
the City cleaned-up over 3.5 million square feet of graffiti at a
cost of more than $900,000 in 2007.
Members of the community should report graffiti at (209) 937-8040
and call 9-1-1 to report someone in the act of doing graffiti. Visit
the Stockton Police Department web page,
