Walking into a Stony Brookbathroom is not as simple as it is in other public places.

Often students and facultyare overwhelmed by messages written all over the walls. Some of this graffitiis as simple as Harry loves Suzy, others more complicated messages of hate, andyet more graffiti is an attempt at artwork.

‘?They’re not graffiti artists, they’revandals,’ said Doug Little, University Police Chief of Operations.Simple messages written on bathroom walls, and pictures drawn here or there, hesaid, amount to thirty to forty thousand dollars a year in damages.

‘?That’s your tuition money,’ Little said.Men from fourteen to forty-two years of age are the typical graffiti vandals oncampus and across the nation. Little is helping lead a coalition of studentand faculty in an Anti-Graffiti Task force to educate students and eventuallystamp out graffiti at Stony Brook.

Often, graffiti becomes a gang-related activity.’?There are websites and clubs for people who are interested in destroyingother people’s property in this way,’ said Little.

Notoriously violent gangs, such as the Latin Kings, oftenuse graffiti as their calling card, combining different symbols that representnew leaders or offer drug information to its members. Often, the gang’sfinancial gain or group cohesion is at the expense of the community that spendsmoney cleaning up their vandalism.

‘?Every time we see graffiti on campus, we put it in adatabase with other policing agencies to gather intelligence. Ultimately, thatinformation will lead us to the people or groups that are responsible forcommitting all this damage,’ said Little. Scribing messages in bathroomstalls, as innocent as it may sound, ‘?is a crime,’ said Little.’?We document this stuff when it happens, and we are always looking forthe people responsible.’

There are three recognized types of graffiti: the typicalmessage writing graffiti, bias crime graffiti and gang-related graffiti, all ofwhich have different corresponding criminal procedures. All are subject toarrest, and things like little messages on bathroom walls are misdemeanorswhich may result in up to a year of imprisonment and/or large fines.

‘?Student affairs gets involved, you need a lawyer, andit’s a very complicated process that the police department takes veryseriously,’ said Little.

Often graffiti vandals take it one step further, insultingparticular religions or races of people, and commit a ‘bias crime.’Others chose to write the same messages over and over again, in differentplaces all over Stony Brook, adding up to thousands of dollars in damages.Either group is prosecuted as a felony, and more than a year in prison becomespossible along with thousands of dollars in fines. Thirteen bias relatedfelonies took place in 2001.

Lastly is gang activity,which is considered a felony, and is the most vigorously prosecuted.’?This kind of graffiti happens in every town, including Stony Brook, andwe’re most concerned with the violence and other crimes that come withthis type of graffiti,’ Little said.

The average time for a graffiti vandal to cover an entirewall or billboard can be measured in minutes, not hours, noted Little. Withbrand new facilities such as the Wang Center, SAC II and undergraduateapartments, all highly susceptible to vandalism, its an important quality oflife issue affecting Stony Brook today. Little asks that anyone who seesgraffiti report it to the police department at 632-3333 , 911 or 2-TIPS. Byadding it to the police database, officials will be better able to preventfuture vandalism.