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CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) -- Local authorities say they want to step up efforts to combat graffiti.
Police have responded to at least 103 reports of graffiti this year, causing concern among local officials.
"We've never seen anything of this magnitude until spring of '06," Cedar City Police Sgt. Darin Adams said. "That's just way too much for a city like ours. We shouldn't have that."
Of those cases, only about 20 have been solved.
Bob Tate, the director of Cedar City Parks and Recreation, said his staff has spent at least 20 hours cleaning graffiti in the past couple months. And that's a conservative guess, he said. That equates to $300 to $400 in wages that employees could spend doing other tasks.
"The only way we can solve it is be proactive on it," Tate said. "The police can't be everywhere."
The police department periodically conducts graffiti patrols throughout the city and they're considering placing security cameras in various locations to catch vandals in the act. The department also made a pin map of the 103 reports to look for connections.
While much of the graffiti appears randomly, the same handful of monikers continually show up.
Adams said it's likely a juvenile or a group of juveniles who made a name for themselves and want the notoriety.
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Information from: The Spectrum
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
