Graffiti Complaints In Sheepshead Bay Up By 525 Percent This Year, Report Finds

CBS New York has been doing ongoing coverage about the increase in graffiti across New York City.

This week, they focused on Sheepshead Bay and discovered that complaints of people creating graffiti in the neighborhood have jumped by a staggering 525 percent this year. Cops told the news station there were 200 such reports by neighbors in 2015 — up from 32 the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of arrests for graffiti in Sheepshead Bay are down 50 percent, CBS reports. Cops said the drop in arrests is due to the surge in the number of complaints.

Graffiti complaints overall in the neighborhood have gone up by 164 percent — compared to a 14 percent increase this year throughout New York City, according to data provided to CBS.

Some of the biggest headlines related to vandalism this year were caused by the elusive punk who has been scrawling hateful messages about local politicians. Also, this fall, the controversial street artist AINAC (Art Is Not A Crime), known for spray painting portraits of Abraham Lincoln throughout Sheepshead Bay and Bensonhurst, resurfaced wearing a black bandana over his face at a South Slope gallery for the debut of his new art exhibition.

The NYPD told CBS they are stepping up clean-up efforts to rid neighborhoods of unsightly graffiti. The 61st Precinct, Sheepshead Bay’s station house, has posted photos to twitter almost every month showing progress cleaning up local properties.

The NYPD is also encouraging police officers to take pictures of graffiti with their smartphones to be stored on an online database, CBS reports.