SWIFT JUSTICE URGED FOR GRAFFITI VANDALS L.A. COUNTY MAY CREATE CIVIL PANEL TO HEAR CASES.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON

Staff Writer

As part of stepped-up efforts to combat gang graffiti, Los Angeles County officials have proposed creating a county-run administrative-hearing panel similar to traffic court that could impose fines on graffiti vandals and their parents.

County Supervisor Gloria Molina said the proposed pilot project would compel graffiti vandals -- and if the vandals are minors, their parents as well -- to appear at a hearing where they could be fined and ordered to pay the cost of cleanup.

The fines would be in addition to any penalties criminal court authorities deem appropriate.

Unlike the court process, the civil panel would convene promptly and impose penalties swiftly in graffiti cases, Molina's spokeswoman Roxane Marquez said.

"Graffiti is not a minor transgression but one that relies on fear, intimidation and violence to silence law-abiding residents," Molina said.

"The murders of Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera last month and Robert Whitehead of unincorporated Valinda in March of last year illustrate this fact. Both of them paid with their lives for trying to stop vandals from defacing property -- and both killings have sparked tremendous outrage."

The proposal comes as officials throughout the county are trying to stem graffiti. Los Angeles city officials earlier this month deployed high-tech security cameras in the East San Fernando Valley to catch vandals in the act.

City officials are also considering new penalties for property owners who leave graffiti on their buildings.

Molina's motion, co-authored by Supervisor Don Knabe, directs the county chief executive officer to work with the County Counsel's Office, Sheriff's Department and the Department of Public Works to create the program.

"The key here is that cases of graffiti should not be treated solely as criminal activity," said Knabe spokesman David Sommers. "Criminal punishment isn't nearly enough to deal with the problem.

"We also need to get restitution. We need to be able to clean up the damage caused by this, and (if) these are minors doing this, we need to get their parents involved to take responsibility for the actions of their children."

The motion, which supervisors will vote on Oct. 9, is especially notable because it compels parents of minors to shoulder some of the punitive burden.

"Graffiti vandals and their families should pay a stiff price for their misdeeds, and parents of minors involved in these crimes must also be held to account," Molina said.

"Parents are legally responsible for the actions of their child, so it is critical that they share the costs and consequences of their children's actions."

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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