Hopefully my internet friends can help me out...

Well, if you read my other posts, you will notice that people have marked my neighborhood with tags (graffitti). I have asked both police and local government personnel to have the county replace the sign that its on at the front of our neighborhood (its a BLUE/BLACK/WHITE neighborhood watch sign thats been spraypainted with RED to indicate RED has taken over the neighborhood).

Its one of these type of signs:
www.gabpparking.com...

No one seems to care or do anything about it. Im just going to put up the neighborhood and intersection info, so I dont have people driving by looking for my house (not like youd find it anyway, there are over 100 houses in Berrywood South anyway). Heres the community info (its called Berrywood South located in Severna Park, MD):
berrywoodsouth.org...

and google of it:
maps.google.com...

Its right at the front of the neighborhood at Jamar Drive. NO ONE WILL DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT and its very angering to myself and my neighbors. For some reason once it was "marked" crime went up, there are people in the neighborhood getting in all sorts of trouble (legal, financial, family problems) and I feel it brought some sort of negativity into it. Since no one will do anything for us about it, maybe theres someone out there in cyberspace with the power to stop the problems occurring in our neighborhood.

Severna Park used to be a nice community and actually had a few celebrities living in it (there are a few but they have mostly moved on-theres still a few but im not going to give their names as they are trying to keep this place clean). If you look throughout the neighborhood, people are having to sell their houses because they are being "forced out" due to the crime and problems.

Does anyone have any ideas about how I can get some action on this? NO ONE WILL HELP US. Its BS. There are little kids and families in the neighborhood that are miserable from this. Please help. I dont know who else to ask when the government (multiple agencies) wont help us. Thanks for any help you guys can give.

Regards,

Strangedays

I suppose you've tried spirits to remove the paint? I mean like, alcahol based spirits, not 'Woooo scary ghost' spirits.

Originally posted by Hyena
I suppose you've tried spirits to remove the paint? I mean like, alcahol based spirits, not 'Woooo scary ghost' spirits.

Ill take anything that works, from ethreal to turpentine.

Need to come correct messin with them Hyenas.

We had this problem in a very affluent neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado. Several signs and privacy fences were tagged. About 20 of us from our HOA banded together and patrolled the neighborhood nightly for a few months. We finally caught two of the kids doing it. They were immigrants and were attending the local high school. After we were done they'd been expelled and literally deported. Zero tolerance for crime. Period. I don't care if you're an immigrant or just some white kid trying to look "hard."

Sorry to hear you're having problems. It's maddening when we work as hard as we do for what we have and then some punk tries to mark their territory (or whatever it is they think they're doing). I'm more than welcoming to anyone until such time as you act like a hooligan or an animal. You will then be shown the door.

Best of luck. Band together. Use 24hr webcams. Patrol your neighborhood. Call your local police department and document beforehand what your plans are. Shame the perpetrators.

Oh and PS - our problem was nearly 7 years ago. Zero problems since.

So you have a graffiti problem.. And what do you want us to do about it exactly? ..

A neighbourhood watch sign...like a red rag to a bull.
So what were the neighbourhood watch doing as the sign was sprayed?
No sympathy nice little citizens willing to snake to the man.

If neighborhood watch worked once, it'll work again. Band together, take turns patrolling.
Make sure there are at least 3 of you in case of trouble. Multiple witnesses on your side never hurt either.
You could even carry video cameras or set the kind of hunting cameras at strategic places.

Originally posted by Hyena
I suppose you've tried spirits to remove the paint? I mean like, alcahol based spirits, not 'Woooo scary ghost' spirits.

Spirits won't work on a sign like that. What you need is spray cans of aircraft paint remover. Two coats and the paint will run right off. Don't tell anyone I said that. Shhhhh!

Originally posted by autowrench

Originally posted by Hyena
I suppose you've tried spirits to remove the paint? I mean like, alcahol based spirits, not 'Woooo scary ghost' spirits.

Spirits won't work on a sign like that. What you need is spray cans of aircraft paint remover. Two coats and the paint will run right off. Don't tell anyone I said that. Shhhhh!

Well yea one of the neighbors already tried the basic stuff I believe, and it didnt work.

As for the neighborhood watch, it hasnt been in effect for over 5 years. People are afraid to confront someone in fear of all these kids (and we have strange adults even walking through our neighborhood) retaliating and finding out where they live. No one will do anything its very frustrating, and its like they are intentionally not doing anything about it, even as they watch the crime grow. I dont know whats going to happen but if I see some punk tagging up one of our signs, im going to beat them down. Im not scared of no punk.

A couple of well placed shots NEAR the feet of the culprets from a concealed location should do the job.