An alliance with Orange County authorities has given Lake Elsinore another way to put a lid on the paint cans, aerosol containers and marking pens that are used to deface walls, buildings and fences throughout the city.

City officials say sharing a database and Internet technology with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department will give them a second tool in their year-long effort to curb costly graffiti.

They believe it will also provide deeper insight into the taggers and gangs that travel the curve-laden Ortega Highway that connects the two areas.

"That’s going to work in our favor," said Mark Dennis, the city’s communications manager. "It will be good for us."

City Council authorization to tap into Orange County’s computerized graffiti reporting and tracking system will build on an earlier decision to install surveillance cameras in graffiti-prone areas.

The two programs – which are aimed at boosting arrests, increasing restitution payments and expanding a graffiti-fighting network of law enforcement agencies – are expected to become fully operational next month.

Lake Elsinore currently spends about $100,000 a year removing graffiti, Dennis said. That cost does not reflect the time code enforcement officers, public works employees, parks supervisors and other city officials spend on the problem.

A failure to tackle the problem can mar community aesthetics, demoralize residents and dampen efforts to boost tourism.

In April, the council endorsed a recommendation of the city’s graffiti task force and voted to spend $23,164 to purchase and install three surveillance cameras and three so-called "dummy" units.

The equipment purchased from Torrance-based Q-Star Technology is being housed in bulletproof boxes, and the three extra mountings will leave taggers and crime suspects guessing as to which locations are equipped with cameras and which aren’t.

The solar-powered cameras can take up to 1,000 photos per cycle with the times and dates imprinted in the image. The night flash equipment can illuminate a 100-foot swath.

The devices can be equipped with 14-second voice messages to alert vandals that they are being photographed.

The first camera was recently installed and is in its testing phase, Dennis said. The rest are expected to be placed in identified graffiti "hot spots" throughout the city by next month.

That is also the timeframe for the graffiti recording and tracking system – another task force recommendation – to be activated, he said.

The council initially delayed acting on the Advertisement
task force recommendation to buy or create a system to photograph, identify and track graffiti.

Instead, council members asked task force members to try to reduce or eliminate computer equipment and software costs that could exceed $12,000.

Further research led city officials to a program credited with sharply reducing graffiti that at one point was costing Orange County about $1 million a year to remove from buses, rail cars, walls, bridges, buildings and other surfaces.

The Orange County TAGRS program will be provided to Lake Elsinore free as a six-month pilot project.

The city, which contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for police services, will obtain four handheld camera and data storage devices at a total cost of about $4,200.

A law enforcement grant will cover that cost, according to a city staff report.

The devices can be used by police and parks and public works employees.

If the city opts to remain involved after six months, it might need to purchase a computer server to store and transmit the data.

That equipment could cost about $15,000, but that expense could be funded through a grant or possibly be split with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department or local police departments, Dennis said.

He praised Orange County officials for doing "everything possible" to involve Lake Elsinore in their programs.

Before voting last week to participate, Elsinore council members listened to a presentation from Orange County officials and watched a brief video that detailed the program’s functions and benefits.

Orange County officials showed how quickly graffiti can be photographed, described and the location recorded for subsequent cleanup.

The software has search capabilities so officers can determine whether graffiti that shares the same characteristics has been found elsewhere.

Such information can reveal the reach, or territory, of a gang or an individual or group of taggers and possibly lead to multiple criminal charges and higher fines and restitution awards imposed by judges, said James Rudy, an Orange County sheriff’s lieutenant who doubles as the chief of transit police services.

The data base can also track suspected vandals and link them to their nicknames or "tags" as well as provide their home addresses, arrest or probation information and any ties they share with other crime or tagging suspects.

"At this point, we’ve been very successful," Rudy told the council during his presentation. "It’s working for us."

1. LE MOM says :

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