Legal Information
SFPD Graffiti Abatement Program
The Board of Supervisors hereby finds and declares that:
(a) Graffiti is detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the community in that it promotes a perception in the community that the laws protecting public and private property can be disregarded with impunity. This perception fosters a sense of disrespect of the law that results in an increase in crime; degrades the community and leads to urban blight; is detrimental to property values, business opportunities and the enjoyment of life; is inconsistent with the City's property maintenance goals and aesthetic standards; and results in additional graffiti and in other properties becoming the target of graffiti unless it is quickly removed from public and private property.
(b) Graffiti results in visual pollution and is hereby deemed a public nuisance. Graffiti must be abated as quickly as possible to…
LEGAL: Group of graffitists can be called gang
Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle
Three or more people who get together to deface a community with graffiti can be prosecuted and punished as gang members, even if they never damage anything but a building, a state appeals court has ruled.
California's anti-gang law, which provides additional punishment and registration requirements for perpetrators of gang-related crimes, applies to felony vandalism as well as violent crimes, the Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled Wednesday
The law covers "an array of crimes, both violent and nonviolent, that could terrorize a community when committed as part of a pattern by an organized group,'' Justice Patricia Sepulveda said in the 3-0 ruling.
"Vandalism is not a victimless crime,'' she said, citing the millions of dollars spent by San Francisco annually to remove graffiti.
The court reinstated gang charges against eight people indicted by a San Francisco grand jury for allegedly conspiring to paint…