by David Greene

The northwest Bronx has a lot less graffiti, and at no expense to the taxpayer!

In response to increasing demand by concerned Norwood residents, the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct teamed up with Behr paint to rid the area of graffiti. The Norwood News caught up with the head of graffiti removal at the 52nd Precinct, Officer John Repetti, to personally remove the scrawls.

Armed with paint donated by Benjamin Moore and Behr Paint, along with brushes and rollers courtesy of Webster Wallpaper, the group quickly went to work.

Neil and Frank of Behr Paint also donated their time by assisting officers in their beautification project.

The first wall that was beautified was the former site of P.S. 51 at 3226 -3230 Jerome Avenue at the corner of Van Cortlandt Avenue East.

The group then visited the Jerome Food Center at the corner of Jerome Avenue and East 198th Street in Bedford Park.

“It looks beautiful… real nice,” the employee at the store told the volunteers, thanking volunteers noticing the orange and black scribble erased.

With several ranking police officials in attendance, they must have thought the mission successful as they eliminated a public nuisance at two locations and achieved the overall goal of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton– to build stronger ties between officers and the community it serves.

“I love art, but let’s face it a lot of this stuff is just junk,” said Repetti. “I’d never take down a mural. When it comes to street art versus graffiti, I know it when I see it.”

For graffiti tags, the NYPD frequently logs them into an internal database that’s used to link them to any suspected taggers.

“We submit it to them and try and link it up to people arrested for that tag and we do a handwriting analysis on the way the tag is done,” said Repetti.

Arrests are made should police successfully identify taggers. But a major criticism by police is what happens during a court proceeding, where in most cases perpetrators plea down the crime. A fine can be imposed by a judge, though taggers skirt the fee by claiming poverty.

For now, police will be on the lookout for violators as the war on graffiti rages. Anyone wishing to donate funds or paint for this program or have a graffiti eyesore you would like removed, contact officer John Repetti at (718) 220-5824.

Additional reporting by Richard Bucey.