Graffiti is a problem for short-staffed PPD

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, October 12th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – Graffiti is on the rise in Pendleton. Police Chief Chuck Byram said that from January to early October of 2019 there were 26 reports of graffiti. For that same period this year there are 72. He said while there are exceptions, most graffiti is the work of teenagers.

“It’s a matter of identifying them, getting out and about and locating them,” he said. “It’s hard. We’re doing our best with the staffing that we have.”

Of the 72 acts this year, 20 were on the Pendleton River Parkway and its adjoining parks. When graffiti occurs on public land, the parks department cleans it up. When it’s on private property, it’s up to the owner but PPD foots the bill.

“We issue them a graffiti abatement letter,” he said. “They can take that letter down to Zimmerman’s Hardware. They can get all of the supplies to do that and it will be charged to the Pendleton Police Department budget.”