Teens Caught Vandalizing via CATS Surveillance Video

Graffiti in Charlotte, NC

In case you hadn't noticed, we have quite a few graffiti vandals in Charlotte.

Photographer Jonathan Jones traveled throughout Charlotte to photograph some of the recent graffiti that has popped up around town and contributed to this post and photo slideshow.

The term graffiti comes from the Greek word graphein, which means, "to write." There many types of graffiti: gang graffiti, graffiti done by 'taggers', hate/political graffiti, and generic graffiti. Graffiti is illegal and considered vandalism if done without permission.

Graffiti is words, colors, and shapes drawn or scratched on buildings, overpasses, train cars and other surfaces.

Graffiti can range from simple, one-color monikers (nicknames) called "tags" repeated on many surfaces to more complex and time consuming graffiti, in which the vandal uses several colors.

Taggers usually think of their graffiti as a "piece," presumably short for "masterpiece." This kind of piece is usually designed ahead of time, and may have been sketched out in a notebook beforehand. Many taggers believe what they are doing is street art and not a crime.

Gang graffiti is done to usually done to mark their territory or "turf" by tagging a space such as a wall on building near or on the boundaries of a gang's turf to inform other gangs of their presence. The tag will usually have the name of the gang.

Gang Graffiti is also used to communicate with other gangs- usually to warn them of a coming assassination of a certain member. The will sometimes write the member's street name and crossing it out, or by finding tags by the member and crossing them out. If a gang overwrites another gang's tag, it is also the symbol of a takeover of a gang's turf or a sign of aggression toward the gang.

Generic graffiti is non-threatening, with messages like "Jack loves Jane" or "Class of 2003"). A recent form of graffiti is vandals posting stickers on property and buildings.

Additional Graffiti resources:
* City of Charlotte graffiti page
* USDOJ: 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment
* For Parents: Is your child involved in a gang?
* Prevention: Tips for Businesses
* Graffiti Removal

Gang Profiles:
*Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13 *18th Street Gang *Crips *Bloods *Latin Kings *Surenos aka SUR 13 *United Blood Nation *Vice Lords *Mexican Mafia

- Local graffiti vandal website

Charlotte's Anti-Graffiti Program

In an effort to improve the appearance and stability of our neighborhoods, the City of Charlotte created and implemented an anti-graffiti program in 1998.

If you see graffiti anywhere in our city, please call Code Enforcement Division of Neighborhood Development at 704-336-7811
or e-mail them. Most graffiti on public property will be removed within 48 hours. Removal from private property may take longer due to notification of property owners.

** If you see someone in the act of vandalizing property with graffiti, do not confront them. Call 911 and report it to the police.

Gang Graffiti in SW Charlotte

One southwest Charlotte neighborhood was victim to gang graffiti on Friday night. Some residents who in the Deer Creek subdivision spent their Saturday cleaning up the spray painted graffiti. Police reports say most of the spray painting happened between 8 pm and 9 pm on Friday night. Homes were 'tagged' on Fallow Lane and Caribou Court.

Authorities believe the purple GV symbol is the gang sign for the "Grapevine Crips." One resident said she believed 15-20 homes were hit. Neighbors in the Deer Creek subdivision say they plan on having a neighborhood meeting sometime in December to address concerns. Source: News 14 Carolina

Gang Turf War in Charlotte?

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are concerned about a possible turf war between two of Charlotte's most notorious gangs: The "Bloods" and The "Kings". The gang graffiti appeared overnight in the Hidden Valley neighborhood, located in East Charlotte. Understandably, the residents are on edge after gang graffiti appeared in their neighborhood. The graffiti was done in red spray-paint in and said "Blood City." The color red is used to designate the "Bloods" gang. Charlotte police have fought gang activity in the Hidden Valley neighborhood before- but officers said gang activity in the area has always been associated with the "Hidden Valley Kings" gang.

Police said they believe this latest tagging signifies that the group wants to move in on a neighborhood where the Kings have operated from in the past. Now police worry about the Bloods moving into the area - an action that usually results in a turf war, police said.

Photo Left: Gang Signs

Officers that work with the CMPD gang unit took pictures of the graffiti late Saturday afternoon. The spray painting or "tagging" on the street was done overnight on Friday. The gang unit is responsible for documenting which gangs are leaving graffiti and where- to keep tabs on where the gangs are operating.

Most of Charlotte's gang members are between 16 and 24. Police in Charlotte have identified 71 gangs, the largest being MS 13, Kings, Crips and Bloods. Officers documented about 850 gang members in Charlotte-Mecklenburg but believe as many as 1,300 could be active.
Source: WCNC

Gang Info Links:
* CMPD Gang Intelligence Unit
* NC Gang Investigator Assoc
* Gang Tattoos Photos / * Gang Graffiti Photos / * Gang Clothing Photos
* Gang Of One- Fighting Gangs in Charlotte, NC - Brochure
* East Coast Gang Investigators Assoc.

Graffiti Problem in Charlotte

A growing problem in Charlotte is graffiti. The City of Charlotte is saying that graffiti has been going up 25% each year- for the past four years. The most recent graffiti attack was the back of a Michael's craft store in the Park Road Shopping Center. (Photo R)

The city is paying close attention to the graffiti because a lot of times the graffiti is gang related and contains messages.

According to WCNC, Graffiti Education Coordinator, Michael Sullivan, writes down every piece of graffiti in town and stores pictures of the graffiti on a growing stack of computer disks. Sullivan is looking for the first signs of gang activity and then passes his information on to police. “They are sending messages out about what they may be doing. Messages of activity that may be coming up and just to tell other groups that they may be operating in the area,” Sullivan said.

Not all graffiti is gang related. Sometimes buildings are spray painted or tagged by groups who are just trying to prove they can do it. It costs businesses a fortune to clean it up since property owners are responsible for taking care of graffiti themselves. The rule is they have seven days to do it.

The most often tagged parts of town are the two to three mile radius around Eastland Mall and South Boulevard from Scaleybark to Arrowood roads. Source: WCNC

Gangs in Charlotte

More and more gang graffiti is popping up here in Charlotte. It's pretty scary to know we have gangs in Charlotte. Its even worse when the gang members don't want you to forget it so they "tag" or paint graffiti in public places.

Today, WSOC-TV reported that trees, benches and sidewalks at the Albemarle Road Community Park on Harris Boulevard are all tagged with markings from two violent gangs. The park is right next to Albemarle Road Elementary School! The city's graffiti inspector said over the past few months the park has been tagged by gangs more than six times. Two Hispanic gangs seem to be fighting over the turf -- MS 13 and the Surenos.

On February 14, 2006, The Charlotte Observer published an article about the gang activity in Charlotte and here is some information they shared about gangs in Charlotte:

• Charlotte has 78 documented gangs with over 1,240 known members. Last summer the police listed 853 known gang members. Gangs such as the Kings, police have documented 191 members. Various factions of that gang, plus the Crips, Bloods, MS-13 and SUR-13, boast the most members countywide.

• Unlike other cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago, Charlotte's gangs are mobile and are not as tied to single neighborhoods. They don't delineate turf as tightly as other cities.

• The gangs often rely on hierarchies of power. But the most dangerous members are those lowest on the ladder, said Detective Harold Jackson. Those who aren't even members are the ones most likely to try to impress the leaders at the top with reckless crimes, he said.

• Police have tied at least five of last year's 85 homicides to gangs, compared with just one in 2004.

• Some of their crime victims are other gang members and drug dealers, Capt. Eddie Levins said. But the gangs also rob and steal cars from innocent victims -- such as one woman who was raped in a gang-related home invasion.

Police say Charlotte's gang intelligence unit has helped decrease gang activity in the city. The Gang of One unit has been in operation for nearly two years. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say the gang unit was especially successful in the Latino community.

If you see gang activity and want to report you can call the gang of one hotline. The number is (704) 432-GANG.

Other Gang Related Resources:
Charlotte Observer Special Gang Report
NC Gang Investigators Assoc.
Ways to identify a potential gang member

Gang Graffiti

Police say gangs sprayed graffiti on two businesses in SouthPark during the past few days.

One of the locations was at a dentist's office on Fairview Road, while the other was at the Sharon Corners Shopping Center.

Gangs sprayed the words "bloods" and "crips" on the walls of the dentist office.

An employee found the graffiti when they came to work Tuesday morning and called police.
Police have not said if the same people are responsible for vandalizing both locations.

Source: WSOC-TV