Every quarter, the members of the City Council, the Fontana Police Department Area Commanders, and city staff representatives meet with residents at neighborhood community meetings to discuss area-specific traffic, construction, crime statistics, and new policies. Sometimes, the police department provides a special presentation about new ordinances or particular crimes.

At the last meeting of the quarter in 2007, Officer Valerie Tripodi with the Fontana Bicycle Patrol visited central Fontana to give an informative presentation about graffiti. What followed was an in-depth and thought-provoking discussion about the importance of recognizing and understanding this nuisance crime.

Graffiti conjures a lot of strong emotions in property owners. Once tagged, a fear resonates over the possibility of a recurrence or gang influence in the area. These fears are often addressed by the nationally acclaimed Graffiti HurtsŪ (www.graffitihurts.org) campaign which has been working with Keep America Beautiful since 1999 to effectively educate the public and help understand and remove graffiti.

Graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism (35%) according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 80% of graffiti is hip hop or "tagger" graffiti. Nationally, gang graffiti makes up about 10% of graffiti. Graffiti decreases a resident's feeling of safety. Neighborhoods with graffiti see a decrease in property values, loss of business growth and tourism, and reduced ridership on transit systems. - Fast Facts About Graffiti, www.graffitihurts.org 2007.

Fontana has an aggressive, multi-faceted stand against graffiti. The most important step in this fight has been to pass the ordnance making graffiti a Nuisance Crime.

Graffiti is defined in Article III of Chapter 18 of the City of Fontana Municipal Code (www.fontana.org). The code includes definitions of graffiti, the city's outline of how city funds will be used to fight graffiti, possession of graffiti implements by a minor, and more. In Section 18-99 the code outlines the reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of a person in violation of California Penal Code Section 594. Those convicted may be fined up to $1,000, be put in jail for up to 6 months, or be assigned to perform community service for the maximum allowed by the California Penal Code Section 594.

Knowing the law is only one part of the battle against graffiti. The Police Department must employ and train officers to identify and correctly interpret the markings.

A tag by a gang member requires more officer involvement and a close look at the neighboring area. A picture of the crime must be taken, catalogued, and referenced. Pictures of the crimes should not be made public as that will only encourage the taggers to repeat the crime. Additionally, the officers alert patrol cars of a possible gang member in the area.

As Tripodi explained to the citizens in November, graffiti from a gang member will usually contain a strand of codes, much like DNA, that are used as identification by other gang members. The codes include the name of the gang, a moniker or nickname, and the territory such as 13, Inland Empire (IE), Sur (South), and Los Angeles (LA).

While rare in Fontana, call the police at (909) 350-7700 if you see gang graffiti similar to this example.

An example of a tag from a gang member using the fictional gang name GANG would be GANGME13. In this tag, the gang name is GANG, the moniker or nickname is ME, and 13 is the territory. These three elements will always be indicated in a gang tagging. Citizens who know of any such markers are encouraged to call the police to report the crime directly at (909) 350-7700.

Taggers simply enjoy seeing their monikers on walls, trucks, etc. Call (909) 350-GONE.

A tagger or hip hop tagger, working alone or with other taggers but not in a "gang," has an entirely different reason for graffiti as is evidenced by the markings. A tagger will be elaborate and will not include a gang name or territory. A tagger looking for notoriety will also change the tag if their identity has been compromised. One tagger may be the sole owner of three or four monikers and dozens of tags throughout the city.