Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Graffiti Trend Paints Dark Picture : Crime: Complaints to hot line have doubled since ’92. Awareness as well as vandalism seem to have increased.

SANTA CLARITA —  City officials have noticed a blemish on Santa Clarita’s reputation as a safe, quiet community and it’s coming out of an aerosol can.

Reports of graffiti in Santa Clarita have more than doubled from the same time last year, based on the number of calls coming into the city’s graffiti hot line.

Local officials have suggested a variety of reasons that graffiti has become more apparent in a community long untouched by such problems.

School administrators cite explosive growth in the area.

Mayor Jan Heidt points to the jump in teen-age ridership on city transit buses since local school districts changed their school bus routes.

“We gave them unlimited mobility and freedom through the community, with no parental accountability,” Heidt said.

Kevin Tonoian, an administrative assistant in the Public Works Department, said the number of calls to the hot line has more than doubled since last year, driven by both increased vandalism and increased public awareness.

“They kind of go hand-in-hand. In the past, the large majority of the community did not know we had a graffiti problem,” Tonoian said.

The Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s station has reassigned its COBRA unit, originally formed to combat burglaries and robberies, to focus entirely on gangs and graffiti.

“We reflect whatever problems are going on in the community at the time,” said Sgt. Carl Deeley, a member of the four-man unit. “Once graffiti gets out of hand, you start getting other problems.”

About 300 cases of graffiti have been reported during the past three months, Deeley said. With schools on summer vacation, members of the COBRA unit have begun working later shifts to patrol areas between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.--the most common time for vandals to strike.

Two weeks ago, a COBRA patrol stopped 11 minors for loitering in a parking lot in Canyon Country and discovered three known taggers, one juvenile with a handgun, two runaways, one juvenile with drugs, two minors who had purchased beer with fake identification and one juvenile in violation of his probation, Deeley said.

Santa Clarita’s most visible graffiti incident occurred in February when vandals hit two elementary schools and a dozen businesses and residences in Saugus, causing $11,300 in damages and prompting the Saugus Union School District to pursue installation of electronic security systems on campuses.

Most of Santa Clarita’s graffiti is by taggers, not gang members, according to Cecilia Burda of the city’s Anti-Gang Task Force. Gang-related graffiti features prominent use of the gang name rather than the name of the individual, while tagging graffiti focuses on the author.

Law enforcement authorities are tracking graffiti with the help of a computer program, categorizing the vandalism by the materials used, name of tagging groups and other details. Deeley said the improved record-keeping is allowing the Sheriff’s Department to prosecute tagging groups on conspiracy charges, rather than having to catch them in the act.

The Santa Clarita City Council is scheduled to hold a study session Wednesday to discuss local anti-graffiti and anti-gang efforts.

Heidt said she wants the city’s development code amended to require new residential communities to include Neighborhood Watch programs. Heidt also wants to coordinate anti-gang efforts of various local agencies, using $20,000 to $25,000 in seed money she hopes will be spared from state cuts to the city’s 1993-1994 budget.

Santa Clarita attempted to curb graffiti by strengthening two local ordinances in April.

The City Council first widened a restriction on aerosol cans to include markers one inch or larger. Santa Clarita merchants are now required to keep both items locked away, although a grace period for the law is in effect until Sept. 1.

Also modified was Santa Clarita’s reward for residents who report graffiti vandals, establishing a tier system that provides $250 if a suspect is arrested, $500 if a suspect is apprehended and charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, $750 if the case is pleaded out before a court trial and $1,000 if a person is convicted.

The new program’s first $1,000 reward was distributed in May, after five youths were arrested for damage to Rosedell Elementary School, Tonoian said. Two $1,000 awards and a $250 award are pending.