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by CHRISTOPHER CLARK
Intern News Reporter
Reported acts of vandalism in Boone have risen this year over numbers from 2008, largely due to an increase in incidents of graffiti tagging on local businesses and properties.
According to the Boone Police Department, vandalism reports increased 59 percent for the month of October compared to 2008 reports and are up by a total of 39 percent in 2009 to date.
Boone Police Sergeant Bill Hartley Jr. said the rise in vandalism reports was due to the growing problem of illegal tagging in Boone.
“Graffiti is not
only ugly, but it is defacing and damaging both private and public
property,” Hartley said. “One person’s idea of art is not the owner of
that properties’ vision of it.”
Hartley
said tagging is responsible for the majority of vandalism reports in
Boone and can be very expensive to fix, requiring painting or sanding
to remove paint, depending on the surface vandalized.
To combat graffiti, police use street patrols to catch vandals in the act.
 This graffiti tag is found behind Blockbuster on Faculty Street. Incidents of graffiti tagging have risen 39 percent in 2009 from 160 in 2008 to 233 to date in 2009. Boone cops are trying to beet vandalism through street patrols, cameras, and Internet research. Photo by Casey Gahagan
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Investigators equipped with cameras and the Internet track the work of individual taggers before making an arrest.
“Often
an investigation will lead to a single person responsible for 20 or 30
cases,” Hartley said. “You can clear out a whole lot that way, but it
is a departmental effort.”
Despite
police efforts and a number of arrests, reports have continued to rise
in Boone, while having dropped off in the past two years on the
Appalachian State University campus.
According
to University Police, vandalism reports at the end of October have
decreased by 29 percent since this time last year and by nearly 58
percent since 2007.
University
Police Chief Gunther Doerr said the decrease in vandalism reports this
year is partly due to an overall lower number of graffiti incidents
following the 2008 arrest of three prolific on-campus taggers.
Despite
this, tagging on campus buildings and property is still an occasional
problem at Appalachian with four reports so far this semester according
to University Police.
“It’s a
mystery to me why taggers can’t just enjoy themselves in the Rivers
Street tunnels,” Doerr said. “The tunnels are a free speech area
designed to give students an outlet to express themselves without
damaging property.”
Statistic:
Boone PD Statistics for town:
2008 Year-to-date total Vandalism reports: 160
2009 Year-to-date total Vandalism reports: 233
Increase: 39 percent
University Police statistics for campus:
2008 Vandalism year-to-date reports: 100
2009 Vandalism year-to-date reports: 71
Decrease: 29 percent
Photo by Casey Gahagan | The Appalachian
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