RFP Staff
♦ While Salisbury continues to be ravaged by vandalism in the form of “rocking” (smashing windows with rocks), paint bombing (hurling large quantities of difficult to remove paint from plate glass windows and doors), gang tag graffiti (Its everywhere Downtown), hit and quit graffiti (street artists coat buildings with their art and quickly disappear), sign and mural defacement (example: putting mustaches on the faces of the Wells Fargo parking lot mural), taping M-80 or Super Silver Salutes (small explosive fireworks) to windows and lighting a fuse, and keying cars. Downtown Salisbury is chronically hard hit by vandals with other business areas suffering vandalism as well.
A new North Carolina law called “Graffiti Vandalism” was passed during the last session in Raleigh. The law is aimed at curbing graffiti artists and gang taggers who spray-paint or deface public and private buildings, public statues, and tombstones. In the past graffiti was covered by state laws. The new “Graffiti Vandalism” law will charge the violator only with a misdemeanor for the first two graffiti convictions and upgrade the charges to a felony on the third offense. Seeing as though most graffiti vandals are seldom caught, arresting and charging one on his or hers 3rd try at graffiti with a felony seems to lack punch.
