Nearly $100,000 in damages cited as Bellingham police make graffiti arrests
Bellingham Police, working with downtown merchants and city officials, have arrested several people on graffiti charges with damages that amount to nearly $100,000, according to statements on the department’s social media.
“Four graffiti suspects arrested for vandalizing buildings, walls, fences and other property,” Bellingham Police tweeted late Thursday, April 27.
Photos of several graffiti “tags” were uploaded to the department’s Facebook and Twitter pages, all taken in the downtown area.
Jenny Hagemann of the Downtown Bellingham Partnership told The Bellingham Herald that the arrest of repeat offenders resulted from cooperation between merchants, the city and police.
Police didn’t name the suspects, who were each arrested on dozens of counts of third-degree malicious mischief — 806 counts in all with damage totaling $92,932.87.
Those graffiti tags included “Home,” “Maze/Ezma,” “Rhizo,” and “Noid,” according to the social media posts.
No bookings on such charges were listed in the online Whatcom County Jail log, and it was unclear if the suspects were being held.
Police didn’t immediately respond to an email asking why the suspects’ names weren’t disclosed.
Malicious mischief in the third degree is a gross misdemeanor for vandalism damage of $750 or less, according to the online legal research company Westlaw.
A gross misdemeanor is punishable by up to 364 days in county jail and a fine of $5,000 or both, according to the Revised Code of Washington.
City officials have been focused on reducing graffiti and other forms of vandalism in the downtown core over the past several months, and the city began an initiative last year to remove graffiti and add private security to bolster the Police Department, which has been understaffed in recent years.
Hagemann told The Herald that the Downtown Bellingham Partnership manages a graffiti abatement and removal program with city funding.
“The program allows private property owners to permit Downtown Bellingham Partnership staff to remove, cover, or buff graffiti tags on their behalf. Since the program’s inception in June 2022, over 2,600 tags have been removed from private and public property. When Partnership staff remove graffiti, reporting to Bellingham Police also happens,” Hagemann said in an email.
Mayor Seth Fleetwood told The Herald that graffiti removal and prevention help create a “safe, welcoming environment” in Bellingham. “We have invested more than $1 million a year in these strategies, which were developed with participation and feedback from the downtown business community and others,” Fleetwood said in an email.
In its social media posts, Bellingham Police said the investigation is continuing.
“(Our) lead investigator wants to know if you were a victim of the below four tags and have not reported,” the department said.
Graffiti victims were urged to take a digital photo and report damage at www.cob.org/reporting or contact Deputy Chief Don Almer at dalmer@cob.org if they have information about the graffiti tags involved in the recent arrests.
