Carrboro sees increase in reports of graffiti

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, the original version of this story said that Chris Atack of the Carrboro Police Department said taggers sometimes create political candidate-related graffiti. In fact, when referencing political graffiti, he was referring to more anarchist-related themes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Reports of graffiti painted on the streets and buildings of Carrboro have been on the rise in recent months.

According to Carrboro police reports, there were 35 cases of graffiti in 2011, an offense usually classified as damage to property.

The town has already seen 15 reported cases in 2012 as of March 4.

Lt. Chris Atack of the Carrboro Police Department said despite the growing number of incidents, police believe that a small number of people are responsible for a vast amount of the graffiti, which he said can be expensive to clean up.

He said parties involved include graffiti artists, political candidate supporters and traditional taggers.

And although the Carrboro Police Department doesn’t usually see a lot of gang-related graffiti, Atack said it can be used to mark territory.

Atack said police do not know if these recent offenders are from Carrboro or surrounding areas such as Chapel Hill and Durham.

“There’s a segment of the population that comes and goes,” he said.

He said that police try to catch offenders through surveillance, offering rewards through Chapel Hill- Carrboro-UNC Crime Stoppers, and tracking serial taggers by style and tagging of names.

He said graffiti is a misdemeanor and carries consequences including fines and community service.

Because of the high costs associated with graffiti, Atack said offenders sometimes must also reimburse people for the costs of property damage or clean up the graffiti themselves.

Although Chapel Hill usually sees less graffiti, efforts are still being made to combat the problem.

Meg McGurk, assistant director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said that even as they rose in Carrboro, graffiti incidents actually declined in Chapel Hill last year.

McGurk was recently involved in cleaning up graffiti at the Yates Motor Company building at 419 W. Franklin St.

She said the partnership wanted to make the Yates building a place for public artwork, but the building was repeatedly marked with graffiti.

She said that for the offenders, graffiti is their voice and their ability to express themselves to the world.

“But to others it’s just vandalism,” McGurk said. “We’re not going to allow graffiti to stay. We’re going to remove it.”

George Draper owns the buildings that house Jack Sprat Cafe and Sutton’s Drug Store in Chapel Hill, which border Amber Alley, a past site of graffiti. He said graffiti takes away from the value of a building and can have a negative impact.

“Ultimately, it’s got to be removed,” Draper said. “It’s criminal in my opinion.”

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