Tagging is the practice of writing a nickname or mark on a surface.

Yes. In Texas, tagging is treated as vandalism or Criminal Mischief and can be punished as a misdemeanor or felon, depending on the amount of damage caused and other factors.

Misdemeanor vandalism involves a fine and/or jail time, while felony vandalism can lead to prison sentences and higher fines.

Tagging is an attempt by individuals/groups to assert their control over an area.

Organized criminal organizations, (e.g. street gangs), use tags to warn competitors to stay away from areas in which they sell drugs.

While you may observe the rare tagger bold enough to apply their mark in broad daylight, most tagging occurs early in the morning hours (3am – 4am), after the bars have closed and the streets and parks are relatively empty.

While you may occasionally observe tags inside structures (e.g. public restrooms), most taggers leave their mark on surfaces commonly found in the open, such as city streets and parks.

While most taggers focus on vandalizing areas with unusually high levels of pedestrian traffic to increase the likelihood the public will see their mark, ANY blank vertical surface is a canvas WAITING for their mark.

This theory, popularized by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, suggests that even minor signs of disorder, like broken windows or graffiti, can create an environment where more serious crimes are more likely to occur.

Graffiti, especially when it’s prevalent, can signal that a community is uncared for or that law enforcement isn’t actively addressing issues. This can lead to a perception of lawlessness and encourage further antisocial behavior.

Studies have shown that proactive graffiti removal programs can correlate with reductions in crime rates, including vandalism, burglary, and even violent crimes.

While Austin Parks & Recreation Department (PARD) removes tags from City parks, Texas law requires property owners to keep their premises free of graffiti.

When it comes to removing tags from their premises, property owners have a choice: learn how to safely remove tags themselves or hire graffiti removal experts like Time Machine ATX to remove tags for them.

Because expert graffiti removal is expensive and property owners don’t prioritize tag removal, they often delay removing their tags themselves or simply refuse to remove them.

Unfortunately, this inactivity ENCOURAGES other taggers to leave their marks as well. Eventually, taggers from across the City would hear about this graffiti-friendly location and decide.to pay it a visit. Left unchecked, they’d mark EVERY surface available, VASTLY increasing the property owner’s removal costs.

Over the years, Park Watch has developed a method to remove graffiti from a neighborhood and prevent their return. We’’ve PROVEN its effectiveness in East Zilker.

We did this by assembling a volunteer graffiti removal team (G-UNIT) to constantly search for and remove tags from East Zilker, no matter their size. Big or small, G-UNIT got rid of them all.

At first, G-UNIT posted before & after images on social media. BIG mistake. Social media recognition merely raised a tagger’s standing among their peers, which just encouraged them to tag more.

By immediately removing tags as they appear and NOT posting about their work, G-UNIT proved that our method was the MOST effective way to stop repeated tagging.

As a general rule, people seek approval from their peers to increase their social standing within their group.

Taggers do this by returning with their peers to the scene of the crime to show off their work and receive praise.

When they arrive and can’t find their mark, it leaves the tagger vulnerable to ridicule:

Peer: “Where’s your tag?”
Tagger: “It was right here!”
Peer: “Where?!”
Tagger repeatedly points his index finger at a section of wall covered in fresh primer.
Tagger: “THERE!”

At this point, the tagger realizes that the entire endeavor has been a waste of time, money and credibility among their peers.

Now, the tagger must decide between returning and tagging again or trying elsewhere.

Even in the face of rapid removal, young taggers will often return to a MONITORED area because they don’t invest much time or materials when applying their marks.

Older taggers are more likely to move on to UNMONITORED areas where their tags are less likely to be removed because they invest more time & materials when applying their marks.

Since painting over tags is the least expensive way to remove them, many property owners prefer it to using expensive solvents, followed by pressure washing & water reclamation.

As a courtesy to property owners who prefer custom colors on their buildings’ exteriors, Time Machine ATX will happily use any paint they provide.

When removing tags, some contractors attempt save money by using muriatic acid or grinders which PERMANENTLY damages surfaces. Others that use pressure washers to remove tags often don’t reclaim the contaminated water as required by law.

Time Machine ATX is the ONLY contractor in Austin that uses solvents that DON’T harm the environment and RECLAIMS water when pressure washing away tags.

For this program to work, the community MUST act as our eye and ears, reporting new tags as soon as they appear.

BEFORE treating a neighborhood, we recruit, train and equip a dedicated local volunteer or “Block Boss” to find and report new tags after our crew has moved on.

The Block Boss’s job is to prevent a neighborhood from returning to its previous condition of lawlessness.

To do this, Park Watch provides them with virtually UNLIMITED cans of gray & black spray paint. This enables a Block Boss to cover up new tags in seconds with minimal effort.

Removing tags doesn’t guarantee taggers won’t return. On the contrary, it merely creates ANOTHER blank canvas to be tagged.

Spot painting over tags creates an unattractive discolored area on what had previously been a uniformly painted surface.

In our opinion, MURALS are the best method to hide this discoloration and eliminate a blank canvas for taggers.

Austin has many talented artists, but NONE of them work for free. Also, property owners may not be AWARE of the existence of these artists or how to hire them.

To help motivated property owners, Park Watch created Zilker Art Project (ZAP) to find talented artists; introduce them to property owners; and raise the funds necessary to hire them.

If you’re a property owner and would like us to introduce you to a talented artist to beautify your property, contact zap@parkwatch.net