Police Have Graffiti Ordinance in Place, Awaiting Approval

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Story Published: Aug 13, 2008 at 5:18 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 21, 2008 at 12:35 AM MST

By Anthony Congi

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IDAHO FALLS - The Idaho Falls police department has a graffiti ordinance, but it is a bit vague when it comes to private property.

The proposed ordinance would change that.

"We need something with some teeth in it which I believe is what we have in this ordinance that we can go ahead and remove it. It's been proven that if you can remove graffiti within 24 to 48 hours, you may have to do it a couple of times but then they won't come back and repeat writing graffiti on that particular area. They'll either move on to other areas or stop," says Lt. Ken Brown.

If a property is vandalized, it's tough to get ahold of the property owners. People might own the home, but not actually live there. The new ordinance would give notification to the property owner and then allow police to remove the graffiti.

"We're trying to get permission to go in and clean that stuff up add we're just having a hard time tracking them down to do it. Or, some people just say no. And so what this ordinance does, it provides us the authority, after we give notification to go onto private property and remove that graffiti," explains Chief Steve Roos.

Under the new ordinance, if the owner rejects, they can go through an appeal process to the city council. But police say they've never had anybody not want the graffiti removed.

If your house is hit and you can't afford the clean up, a grant was given to the police for removal costs which mainly covers the cost of the paint.

Police want a common balance between freedom of speech and where they can go within the law to remove the graffiti, but they think this ordinance would work for both sides.

"We live in the united states we still want to have the freedom of speech and do what we want to do but it can't be carried to destruction of property," says Brown.

It takes time and man power for police to remove graffiti. And they are always looking for volunteers. If you can donate some time, you can call the Police Department's volunteer coordinator, Melissa Smith at 612-8655.

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