Increased reporting driving graffiti statistics
Reports of unwanted graffiti in Saskatoon have increased substantially, but police say the trend is due to increased reporting rather than increased incidents of painted vandalism.
Police data indicates 361 graffiti reports were filed in 2015 rising to 660 in 2016, and the trend has continued in 2017.
Police spokeswoman Alyson Edwards said 628 graffiti reports were filed between January and September this year, compared to 243 in the same time period last year.
She said the increase does not necessarily indicate more graffiti vandalism, because there has been a heavier focus on encouraging civic management and staff to report graffiti to police.
“That can be everything from people writing on something with a marker all the way up to spraypainting and things like that,” she said, noting reports usually spike in the warmer months.
Edwards said the police force no longer has an officer dedicated to graffiti — the position was redeployed to patrol duties — but it monitors the issue closely and reporting of graffiti helps officers target and address a potential problem.
“We want to have a true picture of the severity of the issue, the severity of the problem in our community,” she said. “We don’t get that unless we have consistent reporting.”
She said the increase in civic reporting is clear. Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 16, 101 graffiti reports were filed, 71 reports of which were made by City of Saskatoon staff.
However, Randy Pshebylo, executive director of the Riversdale Business Improvement District (BID), said the reported cases of graffiti in the police statistics are “the tip of the iceberg.”
He said the BID has noted a “marked increase” in graffiti since the redeployment of the dedicated graffiti unit.
While he’s regularly out removing it, he rarely reports graffiti because reporting is “somewhat of a cumbersome process,” he said, noting business owners need to focus on the needs of their customers and business and residential property owners are already busy with the cleanup it requires.
“(They) cannot continue to dip into their pockets — that are empty — to try and keep up with this,” he said. “That’s where a dedicated unit, focused on this, can keep the pressure on.”
Pshebylo said graffiti taggers tend to target areas where graffiti is already present, sometimes in response to a certain tag or symbol, and the cycle repeats itself without police intervention.
“We’re getting hammered,” he said.
“The increase is noticeable in the absence of the anti-graffiti unit and it needs to be reinstated.”
DeeAnn Mercier, executive director of the Broadway BID, said she’s heard frustration from her maintenance supervisor about the lack of a dedicated police unit.
Businesses in the area have been trying to proactively address the issue by filling vacant walls with murals and art, but unwanted graffiti can mean a “huge cost” for merchants.
“You don’t know what necessarily it means or what it’s implying, so then it also creates a lack of safety in the area as well,” she said.
“Having staff and customers feel safe is of utmost importance.”
Graffiti supplies are among the products sold at Undergrind Skates, a downtown business.
Jon Cennon said although the store sells spray paint and paint markers that can be used for tagging, his clients are professional artists commissioned for their work. While he’s opposed to careless acts of vandalism, there are “many different levels” to the art form, he said.
“I believe everyone is an artist to a certain extent, and if that’s the way that someone wants to let their art out, then great. If they’re going out and spray-painting bad words on people’s garage doors and stuff like that, I don’t really consider that art. I consider that ignorance.”
Demand for graffiti art in the city is growing, and many established artists in Saskatoon got their start in the art form, he noted.
“We want to be an outlet for the writers who are beautifying their surroundings,” he said.