Five Rewarded for Graffiti-Busting Feats

When Phillip Roach saw a woman apparently teaching a teen-age girl how to scrawl graffiti on a pile of boulders at Chatsworth Park, he summoned authorities.

Police arrived a short time later and apprehended the suspects, one of whom tried to take down the license number of Roach’s car. “My brother blocked her view and said, ‘Fat chance, lady,’ ” recalled Roach, 45, of West Hills in the San Fernando Valley.

Roach’s effort earned him $1,000 on Wednesday as one of the first five citizens to be rewarded under a new city-funded anti-graffiti program.

The program, established in March, 1990, with $50,000 set aside by the City Council, provides an incentive for citizens to aid in the arrest and conviction of people caught writing graffiti.

“I didn’t do it for the money,” said Roach, an engineering consultant. “I’m just sick and tired of having people destroy our surroundings.”

Hannah McKee Dyke, 57, founder of a community-based anti-graffiti service called Sylmar Graffiti Busters, was one of four people who received $500 awards.

Roach received more than the others because he applied for his award after the City Council voted earlier this year to boost the cash payments from $500 to $1,000.

“It’s a strange world we live in--most people just don’t want to get involved,” said Dyke, after thanking the council for the money, which she intends to plow back into her anti-graffiti service. “I’m a damned determined lady and I’m going to do something about this problem.”

Dyke earned her award by apprehending an 18-year-old man who wrote a gang slogan on a brick wall. The young man was supposed to be erasing such defacements as a court-referred client to Dyke’s service.

“I walked up, tapped him on the shoulder and said, ‘You’re under citizen’s arrest,’ ” Dyke recalled. “He laughed at me. I said, ‘Get in the van. I’m taking you in.’ ”

William Lee Arluck of San Fernando was sentenced to 65 days in jail and 240 additional hours of community service work with Sylmar Graffiti Busters for defacing the wall with green markings that had to be sandblasted.

Patricia Joan Moran and Cynthia Kay Parker, both of North Hollywood, each received $500 for helping police arrest a man they saw scribbling graffiti on the side of a bread delivery truck.

To be eligible for such an award a person need only file a special application with the city clerk’s office, along with police reports and court records proving they were involved in the arrest and conviction of a graffiti vandal.

The fact that four of the first five award winners were from the Sylmar area of the Valley was more than coincidence.

“I was the first person to apply for one of these awards,” Dyke said. “Then I supplied four other people I knew with applications.”

One of them was Alicia Erwin, who in August, 1990, watched a young man spray-paint the word “Porn” on a light pole outside the apartment building she manages in Sylmar.

Erwin, who reported the incident to the police, was later able to identify the suspect from a photo lineup provided by police.

“I’m giving part of my money to the Sylmar Graffiti Busters because they’re really on the ball,” Erwin said. “I’ll buy savings bonds for my children children with the rest.”