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OGDEN -- Ogden police are using incentives to go after graffiti vandals.
The Ogden Police Department is offering $100 to anybody that tips off police if that information leads to the arrest and conviction of a tagger.
Officials say graffiti became a real problem in some areas of town. That led them to figure out an approach they hope will help.
This reward isn't exclusive to just Ogden residents; Police say it's open to everyone. They say they don't care where the information is coming from, they just want to crack down on this type of vandalism in their city.
The city and the police department teamed up to create this new program after a few areas in the city were recently hit hard with graffiti vandalism.
"Graffiti is a problem in the community and the best way to combat it is to expedite getting it removed, but it's a repeat problem," said Lt. Danielle Croyle with the Ogden City Police Department. "So this was a creative way brought forth to try and combat it and get people involved in the community to take pride in their own neighborhoods."
A flier recently went out with the water bill to all residents in Ogden notifying of the program and its incentives. In lieu of a $100 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction of a graffiti vandal, you can have credit towards your water bill.
- Take a picture of the graffiti before it is removed. Photographs will assist law enforcement in their investigation.
- Rapid and continual removal is the best way to eliminate the problem.
- Adopt a spot in your neighborhood and ensure it stays clean and free of graffiti.
- Add or improve lighting around your property to promote natural surveillance and report street lights that are not working.
Police say they've already received tips from the new program and expect more to come in, but they want to warn residents to be careful.
"We want citizens to call when they encounter suspicious circumstances, we don't want them to go engage it, we don't want them to interfere with it," Croyle said. "We want them to get a good description, license plate numbers, be able to write information down to give it to the investigators to follow up on."
Ogden police say they're trying to crack down all types of graffiti, from large billboard-size tags on sides of buildings to the small ones on light poles.
They say a lot of the graffiti is by repeat offenders in repeat locations, so they hope to put a stop to it soon.
To report a graffiti vandal, call the police hotline at 801-629-8204.
Police say the tips are kept confidential. That can be a concern when there are fears over retribution.
"There (are) actually two lines," Croyle clarifies. "There's one where we want tips and information of possible suspects involved, and one is if you see this you can call to get it removed."
The removal hotline is 801-629-8752.
Police are also telling property owners to take pictures of the graffiti before scrubbing it away. The markings sometimes can contain clues about who left it.
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Story compiled with contributions from Shara Park and Andrew Adams.
