Friday, May 3, 2013

Vandalism Ticket Dismissed


















             


               The ticket was thrown out of court earlier today. The judge was surprised that a private citizen took it upon himself to restore the neighborhood back to its original condition. Restoration is the opposite of vandalism, so how could a judge enforce the law when faced with the evidence presented before the court? The above graffiti isn't so bad, but Paulina was badly tagged, graffiti begets graffiti so it all had to go. It isn't as if police and law enforcement are busting taggers left and right, consequently we of the community who care have to take it upon ourselves to rid our neighborhood of this blight.  Hopefully someday the city will adopt a Graffiti Tracker program to assist police in identifying the culprits, to document the tagging and catch the taggers.

Please continue reading for another sign restoration




6 comments:

Patrol Officer B. said...

A sophisticated Police Department graffiti data base has been in existence for quite a while. Send your photos to: graffiti@CAPS24.org Each graffito automatically will be logged in with date, time, GPS location and your email address. This common knowledge has been mentioned many times over at CAPS meetings. Have a good day.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

Dear Police Officer B,

How is this database catching taggers? Because watching the tags over the years there are many repeat offenders who are never ever caught. And we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of tags.

A graffiti tracker program adds hidden cameras so that you can see who the offender is and then actually catch them and then with the database fine them or put them in jail? Is this being done?

You have a good day too.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

That extra question mark by jail was unnecessary.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

Restoration - res·to·ra·tion
/ˌrestəˈrāSHən/
Noun
The return of something to a former owner, place, or condition.
The process of repairing or renovating a building, work of art, etc., so as to restore it to its original condition.


Vandalism - van·dal·ism
/ˈvandlˌizəm/
Noun
Action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.


Pretty cut and dry definitions. If painting a mailbox back to its original color and condition is vandalism, someone please explain how that is so and how it is worth police and court time to try such cases when there a many many taggers that roam free continuing to do damage on a daily basis.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

There are many other arcane unimportant laws that the police could spend enforcing.

One not so arcane is jaywalking.

In California they have jaywalking sting operations. Maybe that is something the police should work on as well?

Probably not. Laws are only good if they are enforced and some aren't worth enforcing using logic.

Unknown said...

One of the beautiful things about this country is its Freedoms which includes the freedoms to associate, to vote and to travel. For some, Singapore might be a much more attractive and law-abiding place than Rogers Park. Amman and Tehran also seem to be very law-abiding places. Life there is very orderly, lawful and predictable. Just a thought.