​Graffiti is a gateway crime. Individuals who start breaking minor laws like graffiti and petty theft often end up committing more serious crimes, especially in communities with high amounts of gang activity and graffiti tagging. Graffiti is the "canary in the coal mine" for criminals to test how effective community policing is at preventing criminality. Additionally, Ggraffiti creates a visually blighted environment which sends the message that that crime tolerated which encourages further crime and disorder and discourages home owners and business owners from reinvesting in their community.

Approximately 80% of graffiti is “graffiti tagging”.  Tagging is essentially the street name of a graffiti tagger and is indented to show off to friends. These tags are often small, single color and include the tagger's street nickname. The bigger and more brazen the graffiti tag, the more street credibility the graffiti tagger gets.  The sooner the graffiti tag is removed, the better.  Ideally graffiti tags should be removed with 24 to 48 hours to discourage further graffiti tags.

Approximately 10% of graffiti is gang related, often designed to claim territority for drug sales and other illegal activities from rival gangs. These tags are often black spray paint, have large symbols, and are located on corner buildings. 

The remaining 10% of graffiti are street art.  Street art is not harmful.  Most street art requires skill and is intended to create visual interest on the street.  Street art often takes the form of stickers or small scale murals.  Street art is is typically not found on sensitive private property and is more likely found on public property such as street signs and semi-public property such as newspaper boxes.  

Graffiti tags and gang-graffiti should be removed as quickly as possible.  Street art does not need to be removed.  Clean City Pro graffiti removers are fast and effective graffiti removal tools that can help speed the removal of graffiti tags and gang-graffiti.  Please visit the graffiti removal product selection guide at www.CleanCityPro.com to find the best graffiti remover for your unique graffiti tag.

The City of Tallahassee Florida is implementing measures to fight back against the blight of graffiti. The City Council approved ordinances for city inspectors to issue violations and fines to property owners who fail to remove graffiti after being notified.

The City of Tallahassee Florida Graffiti Abatement Plan will be a pilot program will go into effect in October of 2019. Using a code enforcement process, Tallahassee will work with property owners on getting rid of graffiti.

Painting over graffiti is one option for homeowners, but graffiti removal using a soy-based graffiti removal solvent like Clean City Pro Green Label is another great option to allow residents a fast, easy and effective graffiti removal tool.  Homeowners are victims of graffiti tagging.  They should be given the tools and training to fix the problem when it occurs.

​New strategy for discouraging graffiti: Ohio judge orders graffiti tagger to use toothbrush instead of paint brush as part of sentence.

After being caught for spray painting graffiti on a railroad caboose, Judge Michael Cicconetti gave the graffiti tagger a choice.

Option 1: 10 days in jail

or 

Option 2: Paint railings with a toothbrush. The toothbrush required hours of effort while a paint brush could have completed the job in minutes.  

When asked about this creative sentsense, Chief Probation Officer Dave Washlock said, “Somebody will think twice. Maybe they’re gonna vandalize or paint something else. The message is here. You’re caught in this court’s jurisdiction, this could be you.” 

After a rise in graffiti tagging and the blight associates with graffiti in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Downtown Development Authority and the Cheyenne Police Department are partnering with a pressure washing company to remove graffiti throughout the city at no cost for residents and businesses.  There is a from that property owners can fill out to request the graffiti removal services.

"It is vandalism on the building and we are trying to beautify downtown and and make downtown better and a more friendly place, and stuff like this doesn't help the cause" says Cameron Karajanis General Manager of Provisions Wine & Spirits.

Special Projects Manager Esther Gonzales says "We have tourist, visitors, workers, and residents, that drive by here everyday, and the impression that we get is its not a very favorable neighborhood and that's what we are trying to defeat."

Graffiti taggers caught will be fined or face jail time for their misdemeanor or felony crimes.

Graffiti removal is not a one-time project.  Graffiti removal from a community is a long-term campaign.  Graffiti taggers must be deterred.  Fast and effective removal of graffiti discourages graffiti taggers.  The sooner the graffiti is removed, the less likely they are to graffiti tag that location. 

Large graffiti tags on brick, concrete or other porous surfaces require removal with a pressure washer and heavy duty Clean City Pro Blue Label Gel Graffiti Remover.  Alternatively, painting over large graffiti tags is an option for this type of graffiti.

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Clean City Pro Blue Label Gel Graffiti Remover is a fast, effective and safe heavy duty graffiti remover for removing Spray Paint and Permanent Marker from porous surfaces including
Concrete, Brick, limestone, stone, Rock and other difficult surfaces 

Product Benefits:

• Gel Formulation is designed to cling to vertical surfaces and provide maximum dwell time
• High-Performance
• Highly-Effective
• Spray and Pressure Wash
• Safe  for User
• Safe for Pets
• Safe for Environment
• ​Scientifically-Formulated
• Non-Hazardous Shipping

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

• "Green" Graffiti Remover
• Super Low VOC
• Low Odor
• Non-Toxic
• Non-Hazardous Shipping
• Soy-Powered
• Bio-Based
• Readily Biodegradable
• Non-Corrosive
• Non-Flammable
• Non-Aerosol

After months of complaints about the blight from graffiti tags, in Dayton, Ohio, community residents in partnership with the Dayton Police Department organized a community Graffiti Removal Clean Up Action Day to remove graffiti blight from commercial corridors.  Volunteers armed with graffiti remover and pressure washers were able to clean dozens of graffiti tags including large spray paint graffiti tags from brick.  The $600 and six hours were spent removing graffiti.

Then, a couple of weeks later, the graffiti taggers returned and retagged many of the places where the graffiti had been recently removed. 

"It's very irritating. With the amount of time that we spent, and the fact that we came in on our own time to clean it up, it's huge. it's not something that we take lightly." Dayton Police Office Christine Hamilton said.

The Dayton Police Department is conducting an investigation to identify the graffiti tagger and bring him to justice.  Aggressive community policing and security cameras do help deter graffiti vandalism.  Additionally, when graffiti vandals are caught, significant fines and jail time help to deter other graffiti vandals in the community.

Graffiti removal is not a one-time project.  Graffiti removal from a community is a long-term campaign.  Graffiti taggers must be deterred.  Fast and effective removal of graffiti discourages graffiti taggers.  The sooner the graffiti is removed, the less likely they are to graffiti tag that location.  Graffiti is a battle of attrition to see who has greater stamina, the community or the graffiti tagger.  In locations where graffiti is common and long periods of time pass before tags are removed, additional effort needs to be spent to change expectations around the graffiti.  The fact is that if graffiti is not removed frequently or quickly, the graffiti taggers are winning.  After a single graffiti action clean up, they will expect that this was an isolated event and return to re-tag the recently cleaned surfaces.  If however, this is expected and the graffiti clean up is actually a campaign, then the new graffiti can be removed and the cycle will continue.  Eventually, the community will win.  The graffiti tagger takes a risk everytime he goes out tagging that he will be caught, so he will look for spots where his tags will stay up longer.  If the city reclaims an area as graffiti-free with aggressive and rapid graffiti removal, the tagger will move on to less actively maintained locations.  Often these secondary locations are behind buildings and much less visible from the street.  While the vigilance against graffiti tagging must remain, pushing the tagging from view from the main commercial streets into alleys and behind buildings does make an important positive impact on the amount of graffiti blight experienced by the community.

Graffiti Action Days are innovative volunteer graffiti removal events that empower the community to reclaim their neighborhood from the visual blight of graffiti.  They can make a significant and tangible impact on the appearance of a targeted commercial corridor, park or neighborhood plagued by graffiti.  
 
Graffiti Action Days are typically spearheaded by Municipalities, Neighborhood Organizations, Schools, Aldermanic Offices, Chambers of Commerce, or Block Clubs.  

Volunteers can quickly and safely remove hundreds of graffiti tags armed with the highly-innovative, highly-effective, highly-green Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover.  During the two-hour events, volunteers report personally cleaning an estimated 30 to 50 tags.

Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover is highly environmentally-friendly and  therefore very safe to work with. It is fast acting and can completely remove most tags within a couple minutes without impacting the underlying surface.   
   
Because Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover is safe enough to be used by non-professionals, a group of volunteers armed with spray bottles, sponges and buckets of water can effectively remove the majority of the graffiti in a commercial corridor on non-porous surfaces including signs, mailboxes,  newspaper boxes, meter boxes and lamp posts. 

Large graffiti tags on brick, concrete or other porous surfaces require removal with a pressure washer and heavy duty Clean City Pro Blue Label Gel Graffiti Remover.  Alternatively, painting over large graffiti tags is an option for this type of graffiti.

Often graffiti action volunteers will encounter street art while removing graffiti.  It is not necessary to remove street art.  Street art has been demonstrated to improve the urban environment, unlike graffiti tags which blight it.  So what is the difference between Street Art and Graffiti Tagging?  1. Street Art is constructive, Graffiti Tagging is destructive. 2. Street Art adorns the urban landscape, Graffiti Tagging scars it and accelerates urban decay. 3. Street Art is about the audience, Graffiti Tagging is about the tagger.
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Fast and Easy Step-by-step guide for how to Remove Graffiti from Painted Metal Newspaper Box using Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover.

Step 1: Spray Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover onto graffiti tag

Step 2: Allow short dwell time of 20 to 100 seconds.  Sharpie or permanent marker will break within 15 seconds.  Paint marker will break within 30 to 60 seconds.  Grease pen will break within 2 minutes and agitation will assist the removal as the grease chunks break free.  Spray paint will break within 60 seconds to two minutes.

Step 3: Scrub lightly with scouring pad

Step 4: Rinse clean with water or wet rag.