"According to new NYPD statistics, graffiti complaints in Brooklyn rose 96% last year, with arrests in the borough increasing by 33%. Citywide, complaints almost doubled from 4,886 in 2006 to 8,866 in 2007, and total arrests rose from 2,962 to 3,786. Williamsburg leads the tagging trend with a total of 186 complaints.
“It's so expensive here, yet it looks like a dump,” long-time Williamsburg resident Mel Costello, 63, declared to the Daily News. “It's ugly. I don't care about someone's initials I can't make out. [The police] need to clean it up and catch these silly kids.”
But NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Collins blames the statistical surge on a new policy requiring officers to fill our a written report for each and every graffiti complaint. “We believe the increase in graffiti incidents is due to increased reporting, not an upsurge in the crime itself,” Collins explains.
Try telling that to Barbara Caporimo, owner of Shear Ecstasy hair salon in Bay Ridge: “I've had to paint over my [security] gates about 20 times in the past four years.” Her neighborhood took the number 2 slot in graffiti complaints, beating out other heavily tagged hoods such as East New York, Cypress Hills, Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay.
Queens D.A. Richard Brown fears the city is slipping back to the early-80s era of graffiti saturation, with a particular increase in gang tagging used to mark territory. At the same time, tagging on subways has decreased 45%; officials say the improvement is thanks to the NYC Transit "Eagle Team", a new anti-graffiti squad launched last fall. Have you noted any increase in tagging in your hood?"
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