Keeping our streets clean and safe is a community effort. It takes interdepartmental coordination and community information.
Take graffiti tagging. It’s more than just a nuisance impacting everyone from repeatedly targeted buildings to residents who want to enjoy the unobstructed beauty of the many murals around our City. It’s also classified as vandalism and a drain of taxpayer funds spent to clean it up.
Unseen Costs of Graffiti
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- Can be costly to the business owner.
- Dirty, damaged, and unkempt properties can attract more crime.
The City of Asheville streets division is the team responsible for graffiti removal, along with their other duties including the installation, maintenance, repair, and revitalization of streets, bridges, walls, and guardrails; right-of-way tree trimming and mowing; street sweeping downtown; and seasonal snow removal on City streets.
Their early morning crews are often the first “eyes on” documentation of fresh tags.
But since clean-up efforts can be aided by an act of prevention, Asheville Police Department (APD) officers and street division crews share location information to identify and stop repeat graffiti vandalism.
Earlier this May, APD used interdepartmental information in an operation targeting graffiti vandalism in the downtown area. Through collaboration with streets on the location of a business repeatedly victimized by graffiti, officers were able to carry out surveillance and identify a suspect. An arrest was made after officers observed the suspect in the act of tagging the building.
These efforts highlight how City of Asheville departments work together in an effort to promote cleanliness and safety throughout the City.
So how can you help? You can find more information on prevention and reporting on our City website and on the links below.
How to Help
- Take pictures and file non -emergency police reports for graffiti; this can help solve future and past crimes.
- Report it on the Asheville App.
- Or call 828-259-5720