You are reading

NYPD to Team Up With Community Groups To Combat Graffiti

A wall located on 43rd Street in Sunnyside that is often vandalized (Queens Post: Sept. 2020)

March 3, 2021 By Michael Dorgan

The NYPD announced a new initiative Wednesday that will see the police team up with local communities to combat graffiti across the city.

The initiative, called the “Graffiti Clean-Up” campaign, will see the NYPD use information submitted by the public to identify graffiti hotspots – and then help community volunteers clean it up. The campaign is expected to kick-off as soon as the weather improves, the NYPD said.

The police say they want to erase the blight of graffiti. They say it is costly for property owners and also diminishes people’s perception of a neighborhood. In addition, it can often be related to drug and gang violence.

“The perils of this costly and often obscene vandalism that can mar a neighborhood, create the perception of disorder and lead to further quality of life and crime problems,” NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a press briefing.

“Together, our prompt clean-ups will reclaim our public spaces, deter the reoccurrence of damaging graffiti and build pride in common living spaces.”

The announcement comes after the NYPD said it received more than 6,000 complaints last year about graffiti. The city had typically allocated $3 million a year to a graffiti clean-up program called Graffiti-Free NYC but the program was suspended in March 2020 due to budget cuts.

Under the NYPD’s new initiative, police are calling on the public to identify areas that need cleaning. Residents are being asked to speak to cops directly on the street or make suggestions via a new email address that has been set up by the NYPD that is dedicated to tackling graffiti.

The email address, [email protected], will be monitored by a dedicated officer from the Chief of Department’s office and residents are also being encouraged to submit photos of areas targeted by graffiti.

The information will then be distributed to local police precincts, police service areas and transit districts throughout the five boroughs. Police commanders will then collaborate with community leaders to form teams of volunteers and police crews to clean up the graffiti.

The NYPD will prioritize its cleanup efforts when it comes to hate crimes. Photo: Assembly Member Dan Rosenthal looks at a fence in Forest Hills targeted by anti-Semitic vandals in December (Image provided by Rosenthal)

Members of the Law Enforcement Explorers Program, auxiliary police officers and cadets will assist the NYPD during clean-up operations. The non-profit group Police Athletic League will also take part. All volunteers will also receive a T-shirt from the Chief of Community Affairs.

Hate graffiti – or graffiti that includes offensive slogans or symbols – will be prioritized for clean-up, the NYPD said. Gang-related graffiti tags to mark a territory or warning signs made to rivals will be investigated by police.

The NYPD said that it will also coordinate with the public to come up with preventative ideas that will deter future acts of graffiti.

The measures would include increasing the lighting of an area, installing motion-sensor lights or sprinklers to discourage vandals.

email the author: [email protected]

One Comment

Click for Comments 
Sara Ross

Why not have kids from these areas help or kids arrested for minor offenses do community service with this? Buy a lot of pizza and baked goods and I think they would help.

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Advocates pen letter blasting Mayor Adams’ legal motion to suspend right-to-shelter

Homeless advocates penned a letter to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge opposing Mayor Eric Adams’ recent legal motion calling for the suspension of the city’s decades-old right-to-shelter law amid the ongoing migrant influx.

The letter, sent last Thursday and released Tuesday, comes in response to Adams last week filing a court motion to exempt the city from its legal mandate — established by the 1984 Callahan v. Carey consent decree — to provide shelter to single adults and adult couples when it “lacks the resources and capacity” to do so. The mayor and top administration officials say they’re not seeking to abolish the right-to-shelter, but rather “clarity” from the court that would give them more “flexibility” in finding suitable housing for tens of thousands of migrants.

Rockaway’s piping plovers among endangered species commemorated on U.S. Postal Service stamps

A day before the city reopened nearly 70 blocks of public beaches along the Rockaway peninsula for the Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. Postal Service and National Park Service hosted a special event at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Broad Channel to honor the piping plover, an endangered shorebird featured on new stamps.

In attendance were members of the NYC Plover Project, a nonprofit with more than 250 volunteers, who have been on the beaches since March preparing for the summer swim season, who celebrated the newly released stamp sheet commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

Bayside High School hosts annual Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair

Bayside High School hosted its annual Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair Friday. Students from the Career and Technical Education Humanities and Nonprofit Management program each pitched their socially responsible products to students, staff and others in attendance.

Each of the 11th grade students in the program have been taking a college credit course from Farmingdale State College called Social Entrepreneur. The students were divided into 17 groups of five and tasked with coming up with innovative ideas to create businesses while also being socially responsible. The Social Entrepreneur Trade Fair grants them with the opportunity to work on pitching their products to potential customers.

Annual Memorial Day ceremony held at Korean War memorial in Kissena Park

On Friday, May 26, the second annual Memorial Day Ceremony in Kissena Park brought live music, local dignitaries, veterans groups, a presentation of the Colors by members of the Francis Lewis High School JROTC, a flower-laying ceremony and more to the Flushing community.

Those in attendance included Councilwoman Sandra Ung, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, state Senator John Liu, veterans groups, local students, Boy Scout Troop 253 and others.

Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade honors fallen heroes

Rain or shine, the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, touted as the largest Memorial Day parade in the United States, has been a staple of the quaint Queens neighborhoods since 1927. Thousands lined the parade route under clear blue sky along Northern Boulevard from Jayson Avenue in Great Neck to 245th Street in Douglaston on May 29 to honor the brave men and women who answered their call to service and made the ultimate sacrifice while defending their country.

Many onlookers sporting patriotic attire waved Old Glory and cheered on the parade of military vehicles, veteran and military groups and marching bands led by Grand Marshal Vice Admiral Joanna M Nunan, the first female commander of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. This year’s parade marshals were retired Master Sergeant Lawrence Badia and Vietnam veteran Richard Weinberg.