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Lynnwood police say anti-graffiti campaign is working

SEATTLE — One North Sound police department has launched an aggressive campaign against graffiti, and it said it's working. Lynnwood police said most of the city's most heavily vandalized spots have been cleaned up and are staying clean, and the hardest-hit neighborhoods are grateful.
 
Armed with a can of spray paint, Craig Parsons used to be a lone soldier in the battle against Lynnwood's graffiti problem.
 
"I felt so overwhelmed by the amount of graffiti, just me alone to take care of it, and that's when I started to get more of the neighbors involved," he told us, standing along 208th Street, where a mile-long stretch of fences used to get tagged several times a week.
 
Craig organized a massive paint-over; at the same time the Lynnwood Police Department decided to ramp up its anti-graffiti campaign.
 
"It really does affect quality of life because as soon as you see, it brings down the entire neighborhood," explained Sean Doty with the Lynnwood Police Department.
 
The department decided to dedicate a division within the police department's new Community Health and Services unit to combat graffiti. Here's how it works: six citizen patrol volunteers work specifically on graffiti. They use a van that the police department repurposed from the city, and all the paints and supplies are donated by a local business."
 
They helped Craig and the brigade of neighbors he recruited paint some fences three times. Police said the program is effective; Craig agrees—he no longer feels alone on the fence-line of the fight to keep his community clean.
 
"It was nice to have them get involved with me and everybody do their best to take care of it," he concluded.
 
If you have graffiti in your neighborhood or see it around the city, call the Lynnwood Police Department and it will do its best to respond the same day.

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