By John Ney

Keeping Brandon-area communities free of gang graffiti is a collaborative effort between the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), the Code Enforcement Department (CED), and the Department of Juvenile Justice (DOJJ) says Deputy Kelly McLaren, a community resource deputy from central Brandon.

According to McLaren, the biggest thing residents can do is to notify law enforcement when they see graffiti written in their communities.

"We rely on the community to help us fight this growing problem," she says. "There are only so many deputies and code enforcement officers out there. We need more eyes in the community. Residents can leave us an anonymous message if they want on the Gang Hotline when they see a problem."

According to a HCSO Gang Awareness brochure, gang graffiti represents different meanings for people. Graffiti is a nuisance for citizens and an expense for business owners. It is a method of communication for gang members. For law enforcement officers, graffiti provides gangs' histories-especially when specific areas are "tagged".

Detective Marc Wilder, who works as an investigator for the HCSO Special Investigations Division Gang Enforcement Section, says graffiti is a problem throughout the area including Brandon, Bloomingdale [behind Bloomingdale High School], and Valrico. "The longer graffiti is up the more likely other gangs will come and cover it up," he says. "It attracts other gangs in the area."

According to Wilder, there are two types of graffiti: gang graffiti and "tagging." Gang graffiti is a more serious problem because it can signal violence between rival gangs or others in the community. "Tagging" normally represents youths showing off their artistic talents, he says.

According to Code Investigator David Cansler, with the Hillsborough County CED, property owners are responsible for removing graffiti from their buildings. "The first thing we do is send a courtesy notice to the employer making them aware of the graffiti," he says. "If there is not a response, we send out a certified letter with the violation, the timeframe it should be addressed, and the corrective actions needed. If there still is no action taken, it goes to a Code Enforcement Board who could levy a fine that could be as much as $1,000 per day if the graffiti is not removed." 

Cansler sites the "broken window theory" as a reason for property owners to remove graffiti from their property. The theory states that if a broken window is not replaced when it is broken, residents will begin to think no one cares. Perpetrators will develop an attitude that they can do whatever they want in the neighborhood.

The appearance of a community becomes ugly and, if not addressed, people view it as acceptable and the neighborhood goes down hill. "The same thing applies to graffiti," he says. "If it is not addressed because no one seems to care, it can be seen by those writing the graffiti as acceptable activity and the neighborhood is negatively impacted."