Tuesday Feb 03 2009
Graffiti spree not work of a crew
At first law enforcement suspected some sort of organized activity behind the recent rash of graffiti that left its mark across Folsom, but now they have ruled out that suspicion.
A tagging crew is a club-like organization bent on spreading a single message, name or logo via acts of spray-painting -- a collective effort instead of an individual one at “getting up” a particular message.
In late January, Folsom Police officers arrested a Folsom boy, 14, at his home on on suspicion of felony vandalism. Between mid-December and the arrest date, a single icon-like painted message turned up on more than two dozen buildings and cars over a wide swath of Folsom, from the historic district to southeast along East Bidwell Street, police said.
Tagging crews in Los Angeles, for example, are notorious for combining to get up a single tag. They are not characterized as gangs. Folsom police investigators found themselves possibly facing a homegrown version of the same scenario with the arrest of the Folsom boy.
“At that time, we had information he was potentially a member of a tagging crew,” said Sgt. Eric Heichlinger. “He kind of thinks he is, but I didn’t see anything to suggest an organized effort. Other detectives don’t see it, either.”