Bike path marred by graffiti tags

A surge in new graffiti along the BN Railway bike and pedestrian path has caught the attention of residents in the historic Railway District.

Mary Jane Barrett, who owns a business on O’Brien Avenue, says she and her husband first noticed the graffiti tags while walking the path a few weeks ago. They then began seeing similar tags in other parts of the Railway District, downtown and near the viaduct.

Concerned with the severity of the vandalism, Barrett documented the tags and circulated a photo gallery on the website Flickr. Her photos show graffiti tags on stone retaining walls and benches, residential mailboxes, beneath the train trestle, on trash cans, on signs and street lights and on electrical boxes. Many include profanity, and others are large initials.

Barrett’s photos made their way to mayor John Muhlfeld who called the vandalism “disheartening.” He noted that the BN loop trail is closed while Whitefish River cleanup crews are working during the spring and summer, and asked if there was any way the city could crack down on the abuse.

Police Chief Bill Dial says it’s very difficult to catch graffiti taggers.

“Catching taggers is kind of like catching a yeti, sometimes you get lucky,” Dial said.

He said the police department doesn’t have the resources available to regularly patrol the path when it’s closed, noting they typically only have two officers on duty per shift.

The Emergency Services Center does have the technology to set up wireless cameras that can be hidden in bushes, trees or on light posts, but they don’t have funds available to purchase all the necessary equipment.

Dial says they typically rely on citizen tips to catch vandals.

“Call us if you see suspicious people on the path or someone carrying paint cans or plastic bags from a paint store,” Dial said. “Or if you see someone with paint on their hands, face or clothing, call us.”

There is really no way of knowing if taggers are from out of town or local, Dial said. There are databases of known taggers, but there are also many copy cats. Dial acknowledged there are likely taggers who live in town and that they’ve arrested taggers here in the past.

The best deterrent is to clean up graffiti immediately, Dial said.

“The quicker you get it off the less chance there is for another act,” he said.

Click here to see the Flickr gallery of graffiti tags on the bike path. Some of the tags contain profanity.