Cedar Grove Man Arrested For Graffiti
Video surveillance leads to arrest; Copper grounding bars stolen from cell tower on Pompton Avenue.
A 19-year-old township resident was arrested following a spree of graffiti-related incidents The incidents occurred on Sept. 27 in the township, officials said.
On Oct. 4, detectives arrested 19-year-old Darin C. Keepers of Cedar Grove. Video surveillance showed him spray painting graffiti on multiple street signs, guardrails and retaining walls along Ridge Road, Rugby Road, Bowden Road and Pompton Avenue, police said.
He was charged with six counts of criminal mischief for the incident and processed at local police headquarters and released pending a municipal court appearance.
In another incident, township police reported the theft of several copper grounding bars from a cell tower behind a Pompton Avenue business on Oct. 2.
The missing bars, valued at $800, were reported by a worker at the site who believes the bars were taken sometime between July 12 and Oct. 2.
Julius
3:01 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012
As this case illustrates, crimes of graffiti vandalism are very expensive. Sure, there is the clean-up. But what about the Police resources? All crimes are important to address, and I'm not suggesting that the Police don't invest in graffiti enforcement. They need to. Yet we as a community can invest more in prevention. How? By reaching out to kids long before they ever get involved in crimes of graffiti vandalism. Lets help foster attitudes and awareness among kids that recognize graffiti as harmful, not harmless. Our communities spend billions of dollars establishing the civic realm of traffic signs, utility and lamp posts, bridges and more. Then we have a few kids marking it all up with graffiti tags and marks. Seems like a real waste. Ping me at www.DefacingAmerica.com if you have the solution to graffiti.