A 17 year-old Regina male is facing 29 charges of Mischief Under $5,000 as the result of investigation into graffiti incidents in the city. While each incident of damage is deemed to be under $5,000 (as each charge reflects), taken as a whole, the 29 charges represent property damage in the tens of thousands of dollars. While some business properties were targets, many of the victims left with the clean-up costs are individual city residents.
In July, 2016, police started receiving several reports of graffiti, all with a particular, and similar, type of lettering and style. These “tags” were occurring mainly in the 2000 to 2300 blocks of McAra and MacDonald Streets. The surfaces defaced included several overhead garage doors, fences, power poles, walls and doors of a school, the wall of a church, plastic garbage containers and recycle bins, signs, trailers and vehicles. Continued investigation by the Graffiti Coordinator and other police members led to identification of a possible suspect. On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, police obtained a search warrant for the residence of the suspect and executed the warrant the following day. Further investigation led to the arrest of a 17 year-old male on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. The youth was subsequently charged in connection with numerous incidents of mischief, alleged to have occurred between July 29th and October 21st of this year.
The male youth cannot be named in accordance with the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He is facing 29 charges of Mischief Under $5,000, contrary to section 430(4) of the Criminal Code. He made his first court appearance on these charges in Youth Court at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 27, 2016.
Remember: if it wasn’t commissioned by the owner of the property, it’s not art. Graffiti is a crime. The City of Regina has a program aimed at eradicating graffiti. To learn more: http://www.regina.ca/business/social-grants-programs/graffiti-management/index.htm .