Graffiti and tagging is a concern for all cities and communities. In the City of Port Moody, graffiti and tagging is becoming an increasing concern. When graffiti and tagging take place, the community and the police must react quickly to suppress this type of activity.

According to the dictionary, graffiti is defined as, “markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building or public restroom, or the like.” Graffiti can also include etching or scratching into vehicles or windows. The high frequency and number of graffiti is an indication that a neighborhood is in decline.

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There are many social costs associated with graffiti: cleaning up; judicial and enforcement (police, courts, correctional centers); psycho-social effects (heightened fear and decline of local economy); collateral crime (drugs, theft, trespass, hate offences, etc.); and victimization (added costs to business owners and possibly assaulted individuals).

Usually, the graffiti consists of the street name of the individual who created it and/or the name of a gang. Sometimes the graffiti also includes the list of street names of members of the gang.

When you come across such graffiti in our city, we would ask that you immediately telephone the Port Moody Police Department at (604) 461-3456. Upon receiving these calls, we will undertake the following steps:

1. Read and interpret the graffiti;
2. Photograph it for future reference and possibly identifying the creator; and
3. Request that the owner of the property have the graffiti removed.

Tagging is a Criminal Code offence under Section 430 (1)(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada and will be investigated by our Police Department. The task of the police investigator is to identify the individual(s) responsible for the tagging and take them before the Court. A judge can administer a fine, restitution, jail sentence, or community work.

It is critical that all graffiti be removed as soon as possible. This sends a message to the individuals responsible that this activity will not be tolerated.

Graffiti is usually classified into three types; tagging, bombing, and piecing.

Tagging is the most common and only involves marking of the tagger’s initials, symbol, or alias. These taggings are usually spray painted on fences and buildings. The individual who does the spraying is called a tagger. The goal for most taggers is to get their tagging as high up as possible and in the most awkward places.

Bombing is a multi-coloured and detailed graffiti which usually appears on the side of buildings. On occasion, a group of individuals go on a ‘bombing’ run doing extensive damage to a community in one night.

Piecing or masterpieces are elaborate art which take considerable time to create.

For the most part, taggers work independently or in a group of 2 to 12 individuals called a crew. The goal of all graffiti artists is exposure and they are not bound by city boundaries.

The City of Santa Ana has an excellent webpage of tagging. Click here to visit their website.

The following is an excellent poster which illustrates the traditional profile for a tagger.

The Edmonton Police Services provides an excellent comparison between tagger graffiti and gang graffiti.

Their comparison is as follows:

For more information on graffiti, we would encourage you to visit this website: SafeCanada - Graffiti