COMMUNITY ASKED TO JOIN GRAFFITI WAR.

Byline: Michael Coit Staff Writer

Graffiti continues to plague Los Angeles, and the volume tells the tale.

City contractors painted over and removed more than 4.3 million square feet of graffiti in the first year of Operation Clean Sweep a decade ago.

The numbers remained steady until a pilot zero-tolerance effort to remove graffiti within 24 hours boosted the total to nearly 8.5 million square feet in 1995-96.

More than 12 million square feet of graffiti was painted over and removed in 1997-98, the most recent figure available.

Even with the bolstered effort, though, city contractors can use help from free-lance graffiti foes. The city even provides paint, buckets and rollers, said Delphia Jones, director of Operation Clean Sweep.

``We do need assistance, because in some areas the gangs are so prolific and will have turf wars, putting up graffiti on a daily basis,'' she said.

Los Angeles is divided into 13 graffiti regions, with five in the Valley. The contractors are community-based organizations that rely in part on youths and adults completing court-ordered community service, Jones said.

Graffiti is so bad in 10 of the regions - four are in the Valley - that the city has budgeted more money for the zero-tolerance effort. Operation Clean Sweep costs $2.5 million annually compared with $500,000 in its initial year, Jones said.

``In certain areas, we could expect graffiti every single day, so rather than waiting for citizens to call and report graffiti, we have patrols for the hot spots and major corridors,'' she said.

The city also organizes occasional community cleanup efforts to paint over and remove graffiti.

Graffiti abatement works and is an important element in the Los Angeles Police Department's community policing effort, said Sgt. Tim Walters, community policing coordinator in the Mission Hills area and an 11-year veteran of the police force.

``It's impossible for us to see everything that goes on. Our goal is to work hand in hand with the community, and if we get the support of the community we can find out what happens and who did it,'' he said.

Further, the theory of zero tolerance works on the street, Walters said.

``Their goal is to get a little fame, but if it's gone the next day, why bother?''

The Operation Clean Sweep hotline is [phone]. The hotline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Crews are dispatched Monday through Friday.