Major hits by graffiti vandals (or artists) are up this year, NYPD Transit Chief tells the Tracker.
There were 90 “layup” hits in 2005 compared to 128 so far this year. A layup hit is when a subway car is spray painted on the outside (typically old school style) when its parked overnight in a tunnel or yard.
Once hit, the MTA takes the cars out of service to be scrubbed clain. Policy prohibits a marked car from running.
Arrests, likewise, have jumped from just 5 in 2005 to 28 this year for those major hits. And yes, some of them are Euros.
“Certainly you have foreign nationals that do come to the city to do this but if you go back 10 years earlier you didn’t have widespread use of the the Internet. It’s really a canvas for them to put out all of the world. Artists are competing with each other to put their product out so everyone in the world can see,” Hall said.
But, to keep the locals in check, Hall said, detectives are being more aggressive in matching tags and styles to the individual writer (or vandal). One vandal (or writer) DOE was recently busted that way, he said.
“Now they can build cases on these guys with multiple hits either in transir or up above ground,” he said.
-- Chuck Bennett
