Zero tolerance to combat graffiti pests

Sandstone is costly and difficult to clean swissinfo.ch

The Swiss authorities are adopting a "zero tolerance" approach to graffiti in an effort to clean up the country's cities.

Visitors to Switzerland are often shocked by the sheer amount of graffiti dominating the urban landscape and a common complaint is: “Why don’t the Swiss clear it off?”

What is not apparent from a quick tour of Swiss cities is that graffiti is cleaned away on a daily basis, often within hours of it appearing.

But after years of tolerance during which graffiti has been allowed to accumulate and engulf entire buildings, the authorities have declared war.

The new thinking is that if you clear it away quickly enough, the targeted surface is less likely to fall prey to future desecration.

Youth crime

Dr Allan Guggenbühl, a Zurich-based child psychologist, says sprayers or “taggers” are mostly young men, aged 14 to 20, who practice their “art” during the early hours.

Individuals and groups often sign their work with “tags” – insignias that are only recognisable to other taggers. They sometimes set up websites to illustrate their work and meet other sprayers.

“The basic motive is creating their own turf, but they also want to challenge authority. But if you clean it up right away, they can’t gain fame, and I think that’s the only effective way to deal with graffiti and tagging.”

At one time, offenders were made to clean up their own mess. But these days, they face fines of up to SFr5,000 ($3,400) and up to a month’s imprisonment, depending on the amount of damage caused and whether or not they are operating in gangs.

However, Guggenbühl believes the chances of being caught in the act are very slim, and doubts whether the punishments act as a sufficient deterrent.

Sergeant Alfred Bachofner of Bern Police’s youth service unit agrees that arresting the culprits is a problem since anyone who wants to spray or deface a façade can get the job done within seconds.

“It’s hard to catch them at it, and even harder to arrest them,” he says. “They get a kick from running away from the police. They shoot off at breakneck speed, without any regard for anything in their path.”

Graffiti costs railways millions

The Swiss Federal Railways spends about SFr10 million a year on eradicating tags from trains and railway buildings.

In an effort to reduce clean-up costs, local stations are being renovated and fitted with new graffiti-proof plastic information boards and waiting rooms.

Locomotives are not allowed to leave the station unless they are immaculate. Another major rail operator, BLS, has the same approach. Some of their trains are even guarded overnight.

Bern shifts burden to property owners

Graffiti is also a serious problem in the federal capital, which is on the Unesco list of World Heritage Sites. With its sandstone buildings, historic towers and unique fountains, Bern is one of the finest examples of mediaeval civic architecture in Europe.

On the city’s official website, you can read that “the city’s appearance has remained virtually unchanged for centuries”. But there have been some changes: taggers are targeting the old buildings.

At the end of last year, the city council decided it was paying too much to clean up the mess and the SFr400,000 budget for removing graffiti was slashed to SFr70,000.

Now only public buildings are scrubbed at the expense of the taxpayer, leaving private property owners to pick up the tab for keeping their own walls clean.

To soften the blow, the House Owners Association this year teamed up with the city’s building insurers to provide a new anti-graffiti cover, paying up to SFr5,000 a year per property for the removal of graffiti.

Specially-trained clean-up squads

The first priority in most cities is to remove offensive, sexist and racist slogans. Quick-response teams have been set up whose sole job it is to scrub public buildings clean.

Nationwide, millions of francs are spent on chemicals, high-pressure hoses, and special paints that blend in with sandstone. The squads need special training, as many of the buildings they handle are historical monuments and could be damaged by abrasive, pore-blocking detergents.

Martin Knecht from Bern’s construction department is in charge of the city’s hit squad. The team systematically documents and photographs all inner-city graffiti, then contacts the homeowner directly with a quote for a clean-up.

The team undertakes to start work within 72 hours of getting the go-ahead. Eighty property owners have been contacted so far this year, and about 50 have employed its services.

Protecting the walls

Swissinfo caught up with the team – led by Benjamin Pulver – scrubbing the ancient Burgtreppe in the heart of the Old Town. This was a particular challenge as the squad had wood, sandstone and marble surfaces to negotiate, all requiring different cleaning techniques.

Pulver said it would take a week to complete the work. “It’s possible to paint over the graffiti three times, before blasting the layers away with a high pressure hose.

After that, the walls can be protected with a special paint which impregnates them, rendering them easier to clean should offenders strike again.”

Public have role to play

The clean-up squad cannot get to work unless the public plays its part in reporting graffiti to either the police or the city authorities.

Martin Knecht maintains that private owners also have to be prepared to tow the “zero tolerance” line. “Only with a collective approach can we combat these vandals,” he says.

He adds that many residents are armed with tins of paint, ready to cover up as soon as the taggers strike. Others have yet to be convinced that another paint job is worth the effort and that it will really keep the sprayers at bay.

by Julie Hunt