2011 TAGS Event, Edmonton, Alberta

As a dedicated Crime Prevention and CPTED practitioner, I would like to suggest to you that the future is bright, creative and full of color. It may be somewhat risky for me to even suggest this, but I think we should give it a chance, graffiti that is. For those of you that are already calling the graffiti hotline to report me, hold the phone! Think about it, what are we really trying to eliminate here. If it’s vandalism on buildings and graffiti without permission then I’m still fighting in your corner. If graffiti is being done illegally then its certainly a crime and there should be significant consequences for those that perpetrate these acts of vandalism.

Last month, I attended The Anti-Graffiti Symposium (TAGS) event in Edmonton, Alberta. It’s not the first TAGS Event I’ve attended and it won’t be the last. It was hosted by the City of Edmonton’s Capital City Clean Up Program, with support from the Complaints and Investigations Section of the Community Standards Branch and the Edmonton Police Service. It was well-organized with plenty of supporters and a very dynamic group of guest speakers, many of them considered experts on the subject of graffiti. This year, there were also a number of graffiti artists and taggers invited which I thought was brilliant. After all, they were guests and did offer us a unique perspective on the subject during a panel presentation and discussion.

It could not have been planned better, dinner out the first evening and sitting beside me, one of the panelists. Pontus Agren has a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in criminology from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. I consider him a future change agent in facing the graffiti dilemma that every community experiences. Let’s recognize that people like Pontus can help us turn a negative into a positive. He is certainly not the only one out there with incredible potential, but Pontus has helped demonstrate that there are great alternatives available for us to explore. After 10 years of writing illegal graffiti, he participated in a Restorative Justice Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP). His VORP experience led him to become the first anti-graffiti coordinator in the City of Surrey, BC. Pontus now participates in RestART, a restorative justice based graffiti abatement project that works with graffiti writers to help them turn illegal graffiti practices into legal, productive outlets for their art. Pontus recently completed a university thesis on RestART entitled “Vancouver’s Restorative Art (RESTART) Anti-Graffiti Project: An Exploration and Evaluation of General and Specific Benefits and Challenges.” – Click Here!

Are some communities so focused on abatement that they are missing the opportunity to create new avenues for this art style. And for you critics out there, I’m not talking about some one-stop tag that’s scribbled on a mailbox or dumpster in 10 seconds. There is no doubt that graffiti and the subculture that supports it is risky. However, the potential for positive change where we can actually have an impact on high-risk behaviour such as this is worth pursuing. I’m suggesting an approach that is well planned and led by professionals, not some off the wall idea! During the past few years we are starting to see some great success stories about communities and neighbourhoods that are being transformed. For me, it’s fantastic that these areas are being revitalized through public art projects such as the “Wynwood Walls” in Miami, Florida where graffiti-infused neighbourhoods are coming alive. Now that’s inspiring!

The big question of course is how to approach these issues. Do we place sole responsibility on the police, social agencies, communities or the government? There is always more than one way to solve a problem. Relying on one group or organization is not reasonable or fair. Criminological issues are complex and to “solve” these issues we need a wide-range of expertise and talents from a larger group of professionals.

I remember seeing an article in the Edmonton Sun in January of this year. This article was about the community’s fight against social disorder and it brought back some real memories for me. Last fall I was traveling through Hobbema (Native Reserve south of Edmonton) and I was quite shocked at what I observed. The images of this community, burnt out homes, loitering gangs and graffiti everywhere reminded me of my UN peacekeeping tour in Croatia….the same landscape. How can this exist in Canada!

Last year, Hobbema was racked with gang violence which culminated in the murder of a young adult struck by random gunfire. The community had enough and began working closely with the RCMP, Government and they engaged the youth. Social disorder would not be tolerated…was the message. Graffiti was promptly removed, gang members were identified and counseled and some were even arrested. Everyone got involved!

A year later there had been a dramatic improvement. Cultural public art is now seen throughout this community, and the youth are kept busy. The community should be recognized for their efforts. By tackling the small issues one at a time they took care of the larger issues. A community that does not tolerate petty crimes will mitigate bigger problems. New York is another excellent example on a large scale; Petty crimes will not be tolerated.

Communities must give careful consideration to nuisance crimes, loitering, trespassing, vandalism and graffiti. Early intervention in these types of crimes WILL help mitigate the more serious crimes of assault, theft and homicide.

Spring has, somewhat, arrived in Alberta. In the crime prevention world the season of nuisance crimes has also arrived. We must not let social disorder take over. Our community’s must work closely with the police and municipal bylaw services. We must deal with such things as illegal parking, late night partying, vandalism and graffiti.

The City of Edmonton has ramped up their Capital City Clean Up program. This is an effective City Organization that is an excellent resource for home and business owners to deal with graffiti. Literature, phone numbers, strategies and cleaning kits are readily available. You can find many resources by exploring the City of Edmonton Graffiti Management Program and be sure to view the video clip and other related documents that can help you.

Dealing with petty crimes is not just a Police problem…it’s our problem! Get involved, enjoy your summer and remember that Alberta Crime Prevention Week is from May 9th – 15th.

Greg Smith is a leading CPTED expert located in the City of Edmonton.  For more information on Greg click here.

The reality is that fear can get the best of us if we are not careful. It has the potential to “blur” reality and often does! However, the subject requires careful understanding, especially as it relates to victims of crime. For those of us that have been victimized, the fear of crime is very real and we need to appreciate that not everyone feels safe as a result. In many cities across North America, crime rates are down and the fear of crime is disproportionately high. Police services and crime prevention groups around the world are certainly exploring this issue carefully. Is your community suffering from fear of crime?

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” I believe that if we truly embrace this challenge we will free ourselves and begin to enjoy our surroundings and become more compassionate towards all people. In Dan Gardner’s book titled RISK – Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn’t – and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger he writes “With the media relentlessly misrepresenting the reality of crime, it is not surprising to find that people have some funny ideas about the issue.” Julian Roberts, a criminologist at Oxford University, reviewed many of the studies on public perceptions and found that – in country after country – most people think that “violent crime accounts for approximately half of all crime recorded by the police.” For those of us that work in community policing and crime prevention, we know this is far from the truth. Fact is, as Gardner points out “Crime is way down. War is declining. And that’s far from the end of the good news.”

We must continue to collaborate with others in an effort to better understand the fear of crime and to act as community Myth Busters. It’s all about being honest and restoring harmony in our cities and neighbourhoods. Sharing resources and implementing best practices will lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime. Just look around you, it’s not hard to find success stories.  Case in point – Safe Communities Partnership in East Sussex, England.

The fear of crime does not reflect the reality – we have never lived in safer times. Perhaps some of us need a reality check to reduce our Fear Factor.

Ogden Point - Victoria, BC

Recently, I attended The Anti Graffiti Symposium (TAGS) in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. Hosted by the Victoria Police Department and the Township of Esquimalt it proved to be an interesting couple of days with a variety of exceptional speakers, both local and International. The objective of the 2009 TAGS event was to educate law enforcement agencies, government, crime prevention professionals and the general public about issues of graffiti crime in their communities and to clarify some of the following questions about this type of vandalism: Who is doing it, what does it mean, how do we investigate it, how do we prevent and control it?

Speakers from as far away as Sweden and Australia joined other experts from various US cities and Canadian authorities from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to offer their insights on the subject. As a Crime Prevention practitioner specializing in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), it provided me with an abundance of information that can now be shared with my own community and others throughout Central Alberta. 

Recent Graffiti in Red Deer, AB

The lingo that “taggers” use is part of a subculture that has been around for years and is still evolving. As Constable Valerie Spicer of the Vancouver Police Department suggested, the more connected a person is to graffiti subculture the more likely they will become involved in violence. There is no doubt that she is considered an expert by her peers.  With many credentials she is also a PhD candidate in the Criminology program at Simon Fraser University and co-initiated the RESTART program which is a restorative justice art program for graffiti offenders. Education and awareness is key and she points out that this problem typically begins in Grades 8 – 10, with 94% of the offenders being male.

During the symposium, I sensed the dedication and passion that many of these speakers possess and it reminded me of how important some crime-related issues really are to the overall health of our communities. Graffiti impacts our quality of life and contributes to the fear of crime. That being said, without the social development element or what we now refer to as 2nd Generation CPTED being utilized, standard CPTED practices will ultimately fail. This problem is far reaching, from risky behavior and the theft of spray paint from retailers to more violent crime.

There is a lot to be said for utilizing best practices, especially when they support more than just CPTED. Often, the writing really is on the wall, we only have to look for a well-balanced approach to find a solution. Is Graffiti art?  Absolutely not, in fact all of the speakers agreed that the difference between art and graffiti has everything to do with one word – PERMISSION!  If there is no permission, it is vandalism.  There is no doubt that murals work well in many cases and add an artistic element to our communities.  So how about a Graffiti Mural Competition?  Brilliant!

Did I leave the best for last … you bet I did.  TAGS 2010 will be held in Calgary, Alberta