Self defense painting

[lonecoyote]

Could we become safer by making our surroundings look nicer? Today some of my properties got tagged with that chicken scratch looking gang grafitti. An apartment, fence, couple of storage sheds. Real gangsters? No, probably kids. But I remember my criminal justice professor lecturing about "broken windows theory" If a neighborhood is run down, broken windows, grafitti, cars on blocks, weeds, abandoned buildings, there will be more crime. Clean these places up and statistically, crime, even the murder rate drops. My 75 year old mom was over so she, in her getaround joystick electric wheelchair, came out to help me paint. We had a blast. When she got tired she had more fun supervising. We even painted the neighbors fence. I had to stop her from painting the dumpster. It all looks better and, I have to admit, safer. Do you keep the place you live up pretty well? What do you think of this idea? Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Brian King]

Yup, the “broken window theory” is one theory that stands the test of time. I have heard great results from Chicago and their graffiti machines. I guess they have a number you can call (24 hours 7 days a week) and a few hours later a big machine comes by and cleans the graffiti. It has made a huge difference. Good job and your ma sounds like quite the lady! Remember mother’s day is right around the corner, maybe a paint spray gun and extended hose rather than a new paint brush/roller for her? Hook a shelf on her chair for the paint bucket, a nice scabbard on the side for the paint wand on spray tip, the hose on a retractable wheel and of course a glass holder for her beer/wine of choice. Or maybe just a nice mega phone so she does not have to yell while supervising.

You both sound like neighbors worth having. I might also suggest taking pictures of the graffiti for your records, to ask LEO friends or others to translate for ya, and to have as a record so when you catch the ‘kids’, the pictures can help in prosecution.

See you on the floor soon
Friends
Brian King

 

[Lisa]

Could we become safer by making our surroundings look nicer? Today some of my properties got tagged with that chicken scratch looking gang grafitti. An apartment, fence, couple of storage sheds. Real gangsters? No, probably kids. But I remember my criminal justice professor lecturing about "broken windows theory" If a neighborhood is run down, broken windows, grafitti, cars on blocks, weeds, abandoned buildings, there will be more crime. Clean these places up and statistically, crime, even the murder rate drops. My 75 year old mom was over so she, in her getaround joystick electric wheelchair, came out to help me paint. We had a blast. When she got tired she had more fun supervising. We even painted the neighbors fence. I had to stop her from painting the dumpster. It all looks better and, I have to admit, safer. Do you keep the place you live up pretty well? What do you think of this idea? Thanks in advance for any replies.

First off, good job for doing all that painting and freshening up your own little corner of the world. Your mom sounds like a fantastic lady and it seems she raised a good son.

Over the past few years there definitely a growing presence of grafitti in my neighborhood mostly on mail boxes, fences, etc. and the occasional garage. My neighbors are quick to fix their property and the city does its part in correcting their property as well. We in no means, have the problems of some cities. We do have murals painted on underpasses, etc. that seem to deter grafitti by others.

I believe that by keeping your neighbourhood clean and well kept it does help with the crime rate and it helps the pride of the general community.

Again, good job.

 

[Kacey]

I would tend to agree - neighborhoods that are visibly cared for are, generally, less attractive to people who wish to engage in illegal activities - neighborhoods in which residents care for their property and public places ar emore likely to have residents who are likely to call the police about suspicious activity.

For example, I live across the street from a nice little part (1 block wide, 3 blocks long) - and every time someone does something destructive in the park, the neighborhood residents are quick to react, by calling the anti-graffiti group when the playground equipment, picnic tables, or control boxes for the sprinkler system are tagged, calling the police when there is alcohol in the park (illegal under the local laws - especially in glass, which is specifically prohibited in all parks with playground equipment) or teens are loitering on the street by the park, etc. My neighbors were quite happy when I bought my house, because it had been vacant for a year (it had been overpriced - after it was vacant long enough, the price went down, just as I was looking) - and I am right on the end of the park that was away from the busier street, and therefore more likely to be used as a hangout. It was harder for my neighbors before I moved in to get the police to move people on when people were loitering by what is now my property, because the property owner wasn't complaining - now that I complain too, the number of times complaints are needed have dropped. I'm happy to say that no one has tagged the fire hydrant on my lot in over 2 years (knock on wood), after I had to call the graffiti squad 10 times in 3 months the first summer I lived here, and the tagging on the playground equipment (which is right across the street from my house) has fallen off too. About a month ago, the parks department planted 2 dozen trees in the park, all around it, and some idiot decided to run them over with a car or truck twice in 4 days (the same 6 trees both times, and the porta-potty 3 times in the same 4 days) - the community uproar included at least 20 people calling the police, and at least 10 calling our local council rep - following which the police upped the patrols, and it hasn't happened since - not even the porta-potty - because it must have become very obvious, very quickly, that we were watching.

Where I lived about 10 years ago, however, there was less community involvement (lots of short-term renters added to this, I think - less commitment) and much more tagging and petty (and not so petty) crime. Tagging was more likely to occur on private property (I've not seen that at all in my current home, just in the park), and was not removed nearly so quickly. There was more vandalism and littering (especially booze bottles in the street), and more reports of break-ins and stolen cars (there's only been two in my neighborhood in 3 years, and one was stolen from an idiot who left his SUV running on the street while he ran into his house for something he'd forgotten).

The condo I lived in between my house and the previous neighborhood was in the middle - but it was a condominium community, with security cameras on the areas mostly likely to have problems, like the community mailboxes and the pool... so things like that didn't happen in the common areas that the cameras could see.

I think that what I'm trying to say is that community involvement is the key here - if criminals know that the community cares, is paying attention, and will report infractions, they will go somewhere that they can get away with their activities more easily.

 

[Hand Sword]

Yes! the community must be involoved as a whole. This includes parents becoming more responsible for their kids!

 

[MJS]

Could we become safer by making our surroundings look nicer? Today some of my properties got tagged with that chicken scratch looking gang grafitti. An apartment, fence, couple of storage sheds. Real gangsters? No, probably kids. But I remember my criminal justice professor lecturing about "broken windows theory" If a neighborhood is run down, broken windows, grafitti, cars on blocks, weeds, abandoned buildings, there will be more crime. Clean these places up and statistically, crime, even the murder rate drops. My 75 year old mom was over so she, in her getaround joystick electric wheelchair, came out to help me paint. We had a blast. When she got tired she had more fun supervising. We even painted the neighbors fence. I had to stop her from painting the dumpster. It all looks better and, I have to admit, safer. Do you keep the place you live up pretty well? What do you think of this idea? Thanks in advance for any replies.

First off, great job on taking that step!!:ultracool Yes, I agree with that theory as well. Many times, in problem areas, the residents will always be the first to say that the police are not doing their job of protecting the neighborhood. Its easy to blame someone else, but perhaps if the residents took a bit of pride in their area, and did what you and your Mom did, that would be a huge start and send a message to the punks in the area that what they're doing will not be tolerated.

Mike

 

[terryl965]

I believe everybody agree's with that theory and great job taking care of your area.
Terry

 

[bobster_ice]

Could we become safer by making our surroundings look nicer? Today some of my properties got tagged with that chicken scratch looking gang grafitti. An apartment, fence, couple of storage sheds. Real gangsters? No, probably kids. But I remember my criminal justice professor lecturing about "broken windows theory" If a neighborhood is run down, broken windows, grafitti, cars on blocks, weeds, abandoned buildings, there will be more crime. Clean these places up and statistically, crime, even the murder rate drops. My 75 year old mom was over so she, in her getaround joystick electric wheelchair, came out to help me paint. We had a blast. When she got tired she had more fun supervising. We even painted the neighbors fence. I had to stop her from painting the dumpster. It all looks better and, I have to admit, safer. Do you keep the place you live up pretty well? What do you think of this idea? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Around the area that I live in, there isnt that much grafitti or windows getting smashed. That is because the people in my neighbourhood are pretty darn nosy, everytime somebody walks past our street my neighbours are always looking at them to try and `regonise` them. In the past year I think only one window has been smashed and that was mine, but of course, they got caught, having nosy neighbours is a good thing.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

the theory worked well for guliani, too, i understand. our neighborhood has very little grafitti or vandalism even though we're just a block and a half west of a pretty sketchy neighborhood.

it's like your coffee table at home. if it's completely empty, it'll stay completely empty for weeks. but if you leave one soda can or plate overnight, next thing you know it's completely overloaded.

 

[thescottishdude]

it also makes a better impression on the police and the judge in catching and sentancing offenders. if they saw ore graffitti on an already saturted wall they'd be like "so what?" but it will look like a worse crime if its new grafetti on a clean wall.

 

[still learning]

Hello, More and more we need sercurity, either guards or camera's to prevent and help catch the bad guys.

All this cost money..but so does the art works and damages done to our public places. Prevention is always better than cure. There will always be a cost to either way.

Having a nicer place seems to make people nicer.

The question is? Why do these people do those things...damages,markings,breaking toilets,light fixtures,and everything else?

Could it be US? Not teaching the right behaviors's? .........Aloha

 

[MJS]

The question is? Why do these people do those things...damages,markings,breaking toilets,light fixtures,and everything else?

Could it be US? Not teaching the right behaviors's? .........Aloha

Lack of better, more productive things to do and not being raised properly. If someone isn't taught right from wrong in the beginning, how can the child know any different?

Mike

 

[Lisa]

Lack of better, more productive things to do and not being raised properly. If someone isn't taught right from wrong in the beginning, how can the child know any different?

Mike

It seems like a vicious cycle doesn't it? One generation to the next repeating the same cycle.

 

[Flatlander]

It does stand to reason that the property values of a neighbourhood will be directly impacted by a concerted ongoing effort to keep it neat and tidy. Thus, I'd further assume that the respective occupancy of that neighbourhood would include more homeowners, attracted to an area of higher property values in what seems to be a good looking neighbourhood. All of it adds up to a community that cares about it's happenings. The question is, how does one go about creating local public awareness?