By Baylie Evans
Wyoming News
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Cheyenne Police Department demonstrated new equipment Monday designed to fight graffiti.
In an alley between West 17th and 18th streets downtown, officers painted over graffiti with a compressed air paint sprayer that made quick work of covering the spray-painted scrawls with gray paint.
“The idea is to cover the graffiti so if it is gang related, they’re not claiming . turf,” Police Chief Brian Kozak said. “We’re sending a message from the police department and the community that this is our turf.”
The equipment fans paint out in a wide spray that can be quickly swept across a surface to paint over graffiti Covering a 3-foot by 3-foot square only takes a matter of seconds. Painters will try to match the paint with the color of the wall as best they can, but they are only working with about five colors right now.
The sprayer was bought with grant money from the Wyoming Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police Association in partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement. It cost $2,400 to get started, including enough paint for the first few months.
Volunteers from the police department will primarily staff the unit, and Kozak said he hoped to get community involvement with it.
Residents can buy 5-gallon buckets of paint from Lowe’s at cost to donate to the Graffiti Abatement Program, he said. They also can volunteer to paint.
Property owners can report graffiti and request that it be painted over at no cost to them. They must sign a waiver, however, before officers or volunteers can paint their property.
All of the information about how to help is available at www.cheyennepd.org.
But the painting equipment is only one part of the department’s efforts to fight graffiti and gangs.
Kozak also has revived a special Cheyenne Area Gang Enforcement/Education unit of about 10 officers with specialized training in gangs. They will work with the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security to gather intelligence for enforcement.
Sgt. Nathan Buseck oversees the CAGE unit. He said statistics show that a population of about 50,000 is a “tipping point” for gang activity in cities.
Cheyenne hasn’t seen an increase in gang activity yet, he said, but the department is trying to be proactive in preventing it.
Graffiti removal can even be helpful in gathering intelligence, he added, because it may pop up elsewhere and help them understand where the problems are.
The department also is working to obtain and install hidden cameras in locations where graffiti is common.
Copyright 2010 Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.