The City of Montreal’s recommendations for dealing with graffiti, with comments and explanations by Solutions Graffiti.
The City of Montreal recommends that victims immediately clean any graffiti on their property, within 24 hours is recommended, and repeat ASAP if the graffiti reappears. (rephrased for this article)
Very true. Otherwise, there is an incentive effect with Graffiti – when you have one, a second, third and twelfth will often follow, quickly. Quick action and rapidly disappearing graffiti becomes a deterrent. The taggers will quickly go elsewhere. Good to know : some Montreal boroughs pay for graffiti cleaning.
Citizens should call 9-1-1 if they see graffiti in action and systematically report the existence of a new graffiti on their property to the police.
If you can, take a picture with your camera or cellular phone, and ask about sending it. This can help authorities trace taggers, and recognize “signatures”. More info is better. For the second part, reporting graffiti, you can also call 311 or your local police station – 911 is best reserved for emergencies and “live” events.
Finally, the City suggested the planting of shrubs or vines at the foot of the walls.
Graffiti artists usually prefer hard surfaces to organic surfaces, for obvious reasons. Paint doesn’t stick to plants – and if it did, the plant would quickly “grow out” of the graffiti.