Police charge 6 youths in series of graffiti acts
Vandalism prompts council to consider security cameras
BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer

"As we get toward the warmer weather, all you're going to hear are complaints. We need to take action." - Kathy Makowski

SAYREVILLE - Property owners along Main Street may be able to breathe a sigh of relief now that police have arrested six juveniles suspected of spraying graffiti at several locations.

The Juvenile Aid Bureau of the Sayreville Police Department signed 27 complaints against the six juveniles, alleged to have spray-painted properties throughout the borough's downtown corridor. Because the suspects are all between the ages of 10 and 17, they face charges of juvenile delinquency, since criminal mischief is an adult crime.

Sayreville Police Detective Douglas Gumprecht conducted the investigation that led to the arrests of the six youths, who police say caused between $200 and $1,500 worth of damage in each incident.

Vacant and active business properties alongMain Street have been marked with graffiti numerous times in recent years, costing thousands of dollars in damage for those who operate stores, restaurants and other commercial operations in the quiet downtown community.

Jim Turner, a Sayreville resident who manages his fiancée's business, North Carolina Furnitureland, at 95 Main St., said vandals have been tagging the property with graffiti since it opened inAugust 2006.

"We've been getting tags sporadically almost since we started, well over a year ago," Turner said. "The [former] owner of the property had a tractor-trailer in the back and [vandals] defaced the entire trailer."

While Turner was not surprised about how young the suspects are, he said the lengths that they allegedly went to were extreme. He noted that graffiti writers frequently struck the post office across the street from the business.

"We've had an idea of who it was, and we knew they were young, but they really got out of hand," Turner said. "When you see the postal trucks all inked up, it's a little ridiculous."

Turner said he received a zoning violation after neighbors complained about the condition of the trailer that the prior owner left behind.

"I had to go out there and paint someone else's trailer; otherwise, they were going to hit me with a quality of life violation," he said.

The process of estimating the damage is complicated, since the extent of the damage is significant, Turner said. He added that vandals marked all four sides of the building, and a tractor-trailer in the back is covered in graffiti.

"It looks like a New York City subway car," Turner said. "It's just painted all over. One of my guys took a can of white touch-up paint and painted over one side, because he was embarrassed to drive around in it. It doesn't look professional and you are more likely to get pulled over in it."

Vandalism in the park

Meanwhile, the borough is looking into installing cameras in "hotspots" at borough parks where acts of vandalism frequently occur.

The borough's skate park in Kennedy Park, for example, is often spray-painted. Most recently, police responded to Kennedy Park for a report of criminal mischief at 7:29 a.m. Feb. 3, when park employees found a 25-foot-long metal fence on the front western side of the skate park pulled out and damaged. Law enforcement last saw the fence undamaged the prior evening.

Police characterized such incidents as being an ongoing problem in the area. Recreation Director Gerald Ust said that while the decorative fence is not expensive, it is only one of several properties that the borough has had to repair due to vandalism.

"They ripped a sign out that said 'Skate at your own risk,' " Ust said, noting that this is the type of "nonsense that goes on there all the time."

Ust would like to see the borough implement a Web-cam security camera system similar to the one that Woodbridge Township installed at its facility, which Ust said has resulted in an 85-percent reduction in incidents of vandalism. He added that theWeb-cams would also allow parents to view the area 24 hours per day on the Internet.

The $25,000 system would require the implementation of a T1 carrier system, as well as a digital video recorder at the police station that can record for up to 30 days, Ust said.

The cost of having borough employees clean up the parks, he added, could make the investment worth it if it can prevent these incidents from occurring and help police make arrests.

"We will try to look for the money," Ust said. "Things are tight."

The borough, in response to the spread of graffiti in town, recently purchased a $46,000 graffiti removal device known as the Farrow System, with help from a Clean Communities grant.

At a meeting of the Borough Council last week, Councilwoman Kathy Makowski described the acts of vandalism in Kennedy Park as "disturbing."

"This is very common through many of the parks," she said, noting that the borough's efforts against graffiti should be matched with an effort to stop all forms of property crime at borough parks.

"We should also continue to look at our parks and the type of vandalism that does occur," Makowski said. "As we get toward the warmer weather, all you're going to hear are complaints. We need to take action."

She said the governing body should look into security camera systems that would give police greater ease in identifying perpetrators and making arrests, so that the municipality can seek compensation.

Councilman Stanley Drwal said cameras that operate in lowlight situations would help police to identify suspects who tend to commit these crimes at night.

"I think it's a good idea in the long run," Drwal said.

Sayreville Police Chief Edward Szkodny told Greater Media Newspapers that security cameras would help police enforce the law and recoup the damages incurred by the borough. He added that the department would be in favor of the program if the borough can afford the expense.

"The police department would support any type of measure that could be taken that would curtail any kind of vandalism in public places," Szkodny said.

Vandals have plenty of places to run and hide in the borough's various parks, Szkodny noted.

"You can't remove all of the trees and shrubbery or it wouldn't be a park," he said. "Acts of criminal mischief can be completed so quickly without anybody observing it."

Vandalism is a periodic occurrence at Kennedy Park, the chief said.

"Over the years, we tried to control it, but as you're aware, it's a rather large park," Szkodny said. "Our officers are in there very frequently patrolling through."

Szkodny noted that acts of vandalism and graffiti are not unique to Sayreville. Vandals struck Fitzgerald's Field and the local skate facility in Varga Park in nearby South River Borough on Jan. 31. In another incident, South River police arrested graffiti writers in the area of Old Bridge Turnpike on Jan. 21 and again on Jan. 31.