Keep up the good work, graffiti writers. Bill Bratton is very bothered by your exploits along the Long Island Expressway in Queens.
“I have a weekend house out in Long Island, and I go out of my mind when I go back and forth on the LIE and I see that . . . graffiti back again,” the NYPD Commissioner said at a forum yesterday.
As a proponent of the “broken windows” theory of policing, Bratton believes vandalism is a bellwether for more crime to come, and as such, he said he’s considering upping electronic surveillance to crack down on writers.
“This is where the cameras will come in, the idea of mobile cameras, so that when we paint a wall over and some bastard comes back the next day and sprays his nickname or whatever else on it, I want to capture them on camera,” he said.
He also seems to believe most graffiti is gang-related, arguing that “the gangs, the crews if you will, use [graffiti] to spread messages” and mark territory.
(Photo: NY Post)
