Sometimes a crew will “crack” a rival group’s sign. “That’s the ultimate disrespect, and usually there are consequences,” says Masterson. One clear indication that a confrontation might soon happen between opposing gangs is when a tag-banger crosses out one gang sign and paints a rival moniker over it. Often, he gets his marching orders from more senior gang members. Unlike the pure tagger, whose main focus is fame, artistry and aesthetics, a tag-banger’s goal is to mark his gang’s territory and challenge rival gangs. When taggers become affiliated with a gang, there is an increased potential for violence among rival crews. “In the nineties, 18th Street took over a huge number of tagging crews, and they became subsets of the gang.” In other cases, some tagging crews become outlaw gangs on their own. “Sometimes the local gang will pressure the tagging crew and tell them ‘You can’t operate in our territory without becoming one of us,'” says Masterson.Īccording to Richard Valdemar, a gang expert who worked with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 33 years, in Los Angeles, the Mexican mafia ordered all tagger crews be placed under the gang in which territory they were operating. What concerns many campus safety experts, however, is that often taggers and tagging crews become affiliated with gangs and then engage in tag banging. Pure Taggers Often ‘Graduate’ to Tag Banging They might also have issues with other taggers who have better writing skills or cross out their work. The tagger might have four or five different names during his young career.”Īlthough pure taggers who are not affiliated with any gang generally don’t start wars between rival crews, they still pose problems for a campus in terms of the damage they inflict on property. They will also change names once they’ve been identified by law enforcement or someone who can give them consequences for their actions. “With some, their only purpose is to gain fame through their tagging, so they practice their writing styles and frequently change their names to whatever they think is cool. Vince Masterson of the Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD). “Some taggers have no gang affiliation at all,” says Sgt. The most common type of graffiti comes from individual taggers (also called “one-ers”) who seek recognition by putting their monikers on walls and other areas around a campus. The current form of graffiti that concerns campuses, however, is commonly called tagging or tag-banging. Actually, scrawling on walls and other public areas has been occurring worldwide since ancient times in Greece, Rome, Mexico, Scandinavia, Ireland and other areas. There is a common misconception that all graffiti is gang related. RELATED: Stopping Gangs One Child at a Time It is important then to understand how to interpret graffiti and the people who do it so you can intervene in an appropriate fashion. Some estimate the annual price tag of graffiti to be as much as $18 billion per year, and the costs continue to increase. The amount of money our nation spends on graffiti abatement is a good indicator of the size of the problem. More importantly, if left unabated, it can lead to serious violence both on campus and in the community at large. LOS ANGELES – Because gang graffiti isn’t going away anytime soon, understanding and interpreting this phenomenon can help your campus better deal with its implications for your community.Īlthough some may think of tagging and graffiti as an art form, if you are a campus administrator or law enforcement official, you most likely consider it to be vandalism that is a significant drain on your institution’s precious resources.
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