McNary students will be spending a lot of time at crime scenes in the coming months.
Members of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps have stepped up to be part of Keizer’s new anti-graffiti squad.
They are teaming up with the Northwest Keizer Neighborhood Association and the city’s code enforcement officer to clean up graffiti.
With better weather coming, officials expect a surge in the spray paint tagging that defaces walls, fences, mail boxes and other features. The new team plans to get out at least once a month to remove or paint over what are often gang-affiliated messages.
The graffiti forces got a test in early March during an organizational and training session.
Hersch Sangster with the Northwest Keizer Neighborhood Association said his neighborhood was among those regularly hit by taggers. With limited resources, city crews couldn’t always get to the sites to clean up.
He hit on the idea of seeing whether the JROTC team at McNary might help.
Steve Hammond is the retired senior master sergeant who supervises the team.
“We try to come up with different ways to help the community,” he said.
The idea of graffiti work came up during a parent meeting earlier this year. The 12 students in the JROTC were in.
“They were very, very excited,” Sangster said.
REPORT GRAFFITI: Keizer city form
Ben Crosby, the code enforcement officer noted “this wasn’t our idea” but he is “super hyped” to have the extra help.
The training session Crosby conducted in early March turned into a work session.
He explained the basics of graffiti removal. Some can be simply treated with a compound and wiped off if it’s fairly fresh. More stubborn urban artwork has to be painted over, with standard colors established by the city.
The students tackled a stretch along Northeast Tepper Lane.
“They were ready to work. It was hard for me to keep up with them,” Crosby said.
Sangster said photographs of the vandalism are taken before the cleanup begins because “technically, it’s crime scene.”
The photos are turned in to the city.
Crosby said citizens are urged to report any graffiti they see as soon as they can. A form to do so is on the city’s website.
On Tepper Lane, the students cleaned up mailboxes and tackled a pedestrian tunnel beneath Tepper Lane.
“One lady went up to one of the boys and gave him a big hug and said ‘Thank you for doing this,’” Sangster said.
“The kids loved it,” Hammond said. “They can’t wait to keep doing it.”
CORRECTION: The association involved in the program is the Northwest Keizer Neighborhood Association, chaired by Hersch Sangster. An earlier version incorrectly identified the association as the West Keizer Neighborhood Association. Keizertimes apologizes for the error.
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