Rarely, have I seen:
a) such a colossal brazen attempt to get media attention
b) over a “feel-good”,
c) “solution-in-search-of-a-problem” ordinance
d) that has “unintended consequences”,
e) has “no data” to back it up and
f) is a “waste of taxpayer dollars”.
What am I talking about? Alder Brandon’s much heralded (by him) “scratchiti” ordinance.
Anyone want to guess how many graffiti tickets have been written according to the Municipal court report from 1/04 – 3/06?
Anyone want to guess how many graffiti tickets the Assistant City Attorneys can remember being prosecuted?
Anyone want to guess how many tickets the Municipal Judge Dan Koval can remember being prosecuted?
None. Zip. Nada.
Ok – so I agree with Alder Brandon, scratchiti is a problem. I did some research based on the last year of Police District Newsletters. In the Central Police district, there were 91 reported graffiti incidents and 7 of them were scratchiti. I checked the East Police District newsletter and there were 36 graffiti incidents, but all involved paint and markers. West Police district didn’t provide information on Graffiti. (I ran out of time to look at South and North.)
I also got some other numbers from the police department that indicated that graffiti reports are on the rise. Seems as tho either
a) we are doing a better job reporting,
b) the police department is doing a better job of capturing the information, or . . .
c) we have a graffiti outbreak . . .
2002 =227
2003 =208
2004 =160
2005 =504
So, graffiti is a problem. Scratchiti is probably a small issue relatively speaking considering everything else the police deal with, but we already have ordinances and laws in place to address the issue.
Worse yet, this has the possibility of having the reverse of the desired effect. Currently, scratchiti is covered by other ordinances and state laws currently in place. Additionally, it is likely referred to the D.A.s office for prosecution if it is particularly bad. (Criminal damage to or graffiti on religious and other property 943.012 or Graffiti-943.017) If we allow this fine, some police officers may use their discretion and simply give a ticket instead of referring to the D.A.s office, resulting in a lesser punishment to the vandals. So, it seems to have the opposite of the “get tough on crime” effect the good alder was seeking.
p.s. Thanks to City Attorney Michael May, Assistant City Attorney Marci Paulsen and Police Chief Noble Wray for getting me the info in the last day or so.
