Graffiti reaches a peak in Las Cruces By Jose L. Medina Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Ludim Dorado said it doesn't happen often. But when it does, "It's really bad. They go all out."
Dorado said her father's business, an upholstery shop on Las Cruces Avenue, has been hit with graffiti three or four times in the 14 or so years the business has been at its current location.
The most recent was sometime last November, the month the city saw the most reports of graffiti in 2007.
Las Cruces police take reports every day on graffiti. Police logs show the department has recorded almost 300 reports since December, all over the city.
Down the road from Dorado's business, walls at San Jose Cemetery show the signs of having been hit with graffiti that has since been painted over.
Is graffiti becoming rampant or is it at historically average levels? A city official said the crime is committed in spurts, with the city recently going through a peak period.
"We got more reports over the last several months, but I think it's partly due to that we have more officers than we had last summer," said Craig Fenske, coordinator for Keep Las Cruces Beautiful, a city department that is largely involved in combating graffiti.
Fenske said the city received 1,700 reports of graffiti in 2007, with a low
of 54 in one month during the summer and a high of 312 in November.
Comparative figures are not available. The first full year that Keep Las Cruces Beautiful kept track of graffiti reports was 2007.
Beyond being an eyesore, graffiti can be costly. Damage estimates in Las Cruces vary.
City Manager Terrence Moore said Keep Las Cruces Beautiful has been budgeted for about $79,000 to cover personnel and operating costs. Not all of it is for combating graffiti, the department handles other beautification projects but "it's a large part of their functioning," Moore said.
The city has also set aside about $4,000 for paint alone, Moore added.
Removal of graffiti on private property is the responsibility of the property owner.
Las Cruces police Officer Mike Brookreson stressed the importance of ridding walls of graffiti as soon as it appears. He said that most graffiti is no longer just gang-related but is more likely associated with "taggers," a different kind of vandal who is far more destructive and is not necessarily a gang member. Taggers consider themselves "artists."
"There's probably 10 to 20 percent that is gang graffiti and the rest are these guys which are the graffiti crews," Brookreson said.
"It's effective to clean it up immediately. If not, they'll come back and hit the same area," Brookreson said.
There have been notable arrests.
Earlier this months two adults and two juveniles were hit with several charges. The four are believed responsible for a string of tagging incidents — including the old T-Time building on Northrise Drive and Conlee Elementary School off of Missouri Avenue — in the weeks leading up to their arrests.
In 2005, Adrian Ornelas pleaded guilty to unauthorized graffiti and other charges. He received a suspended sentence of 8 years, 6 months and was ordered to pay $8,000 restitution.
"For a business, it's not good," Dorado's father, Vicente Mendiola said. "It's good to look good. We have to look good for the customers... . Some people don't care but some say "this is not right.'"
Jose Medina can be reached at jmedina@lcsun-news.com
For more on how to combat graffiti, visit the city's Web site, www.las-cruces.org, and click on the Graffiti Hotline icon on the lower right side of the page
To report graffiti, call the city's Graffiti Hotline at (575)528-4723
