Case study report on Graffiti

4. Stockholm Transport: A partnership approach

Stockholm Transport - AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL)- is owned by the County Council of Stockholm. SL's task is to provide passenger transport services to those living and working in the twenty-six municipalities of the County. It has responsibility for three bus companies, light rail and train operations and the Underground system. One million people travel on the network every day. The residents of Stockholm County are among the keenest users of public transport in Europe, with more than 70% of peak time commuters choosing to travel by public transport.

4.1 Scale of the problem

In 2000, the costs of removing graffiti and repairing incidents of vandalism exceeded SEK 100 million for the first time, an increase of more than 20% on 1999. These costs do not include the indirect costs of surveillance, preventive measures or delays to services. In 1999, the Underground was most affected. Bus infrastructure and vehicles accounted for the greatest increase between 1999 and 2000.

Spray paint graffiti came to Sweden from the United States in 1986 when it figured prominently in the film 'Style Wars'. This film, shown in Sweden in 1986, was about graffiti crews in New York, featured hip hop music and targeted young people. There is said to be a significant difference between the perpetrators of today and those from the 1980s. The earlier perpetrators had informal codes about where to paint and not to paint. Today, graffiti has spread to cultural monuments, churches and historic buildings in the old city.

There has been a growth of glass etching or Dutch graffiti, especially on train carriage windows. They have considered placing a film on the glass, but there are problems with fire regulations and this solution is expensive, as it requires the frequent replacement of the film.

Acts of graffiti are carried out at all times, but afternoons and nights are preferred. In the daytime, the perpetrators focus on the train's central carriages as few passengers ride in these cars and they can work relatively undisturbed. At night, trains parked in the depots are the most vulnerable.

Incidents of graffiti are often accompanied by other acts of vandalism. For example, two young people aged 15 years were apprehended in a tunnel after having switched the lights in a track signal. It is not uncommon for concrete posts to be placed on the track to give those engaged in graffiti warning of a train approaching as it hits or brakes to avoid these obstructions. In many accidents involving objects placed on the track, new graffiti has been found near the site.

The vandalism is becoming more aggressive. The interiors of many carriages have been completely destroyed. Increasingly, spray paint images or pieces have been replaced by simply covering as many seats and walls as possible with paint. There is a significant trend away from artistic expression to destruction and violent behaviour. A video made by the perpetrators shows a whole train being 'bombed' with graffiti and vandalised. The images and the words accompanying the music on the video are aggressive and violent. Perpetrators have been apprehended carrying heavy sticks, rocks tied by rope and knives. Personal information about those employed to apprehend the perpetrators and tackle graffiti and vandalism is circulated on the Internet.

Although those arrested for graffiti include those from other countries in Europe, the United States and Australia, most of the perpetrators are from Sweden and Stockholm County. The perpetrators of the graffiti are usually boys or young men, aged between 12 and 18 years, and come from families across social classes and income groups. There are also perpetrators as young as nine and as old as forty. The older men often provide 'role models' for the young people.

Recently, more girls and young women are involved in graffiti and now have their own crews or gangs. Girls are said to choose tags that mean something to them, whilst boys will pick tags that are easy to write and look good. Although only accounting for a small minority of the perpetrators, there are an increasing number of second and third generation young people whose families have immigrated to Sweden.

A small number of prolific perpetrators are responsible for about 80% of all incidents on the SL network. As an example of prolific and long term offending, two perpetrators were apprehended aged 29 and 30 years of age and known from their tags to be responsible for many incidents. Both had started with graffiti when they were 14 and continued in their activities for fifteen years. When apprehended, both were in regular employment and one had a young family.

The perpetrators in gangs or crews are usually well organised and well prepared. Many wear masks and gloves, the latter to avoid getting paint on their fingers to aid detection. Their spray paints and other materials are often hidden earlier by the trackside to avoid carrying them to and from the site. Lookouts will often be posted on the platforms. The perpetrators may take two or three hours moving between stations in an attempt to mislead the police and security.

Evidence gathered by those apprehending the perpetrators have revealed that many of the young people engaged in graffiti will also use illegal drugs (mainly cannabis, but increasingly ecstasy as well) and alcohol. The solvents in the spray paints can be an addiction. Those involved regularly in graffiti are often also engaged in other forms of criminal activity.

There are serious accidents, even fatalities, involving those engaged in graffiti. Young people of 11 or 12 years of age have been apprehended only a few inches from the live rail. Often they are unaware that the rail remains live at night or that trains travel through the tunnels at that time. Young people have been known to surf on trains and hang out of the windows to spray paint. Injuries to themselves or their friends do not act as a deterrent. To spray paint in a very dangerous site increases their credibility within the sub-culture.

4.2 A county-wide partnership

SL works closely with other public, private and voluntary agencies in a partnership approach to tackle graffiti and vandalism. SL is a major contributor to the anti-graffiti network in Stockholm County that includes: local authorities; police; fire department; schools; housing corporations; attorneys; community representatives; the Swedish State Railways; the National Rail Administration; the National Road Administration; electricity companies; and the Post Office. The purpose is to exchange experiences and co-ordinate action. In several municipalities, there are local meetings held with school staff, parents, politicians and youth workers.

In Stockholm, all the City departments co-ordinate their activities to rapidly remove graffiti. The City Council has good liaison with SL and there have been joint projects, such as letters to property owners and businesses with property near to the Metro to report graffiti to the police and the importance of recording the tags and pieces.

A policy has been agreed by the County Governor and others that takes a public stand against 'legal walls' and so-called 'graffiti schools' where such activities are taught within art education programmes. A booklet warning of the dangers and consequences of graffiti has been sent to all 38,000 households in Stockholm with children aged 11 to 13 years. The City has also contributed financially to an anti-graffiti campaign on television that targeted young people.

4.3 SL based initiatives

In 1993, the SL Executive Board agreed an action plan and budget for 'Operation Safety' for crime prevention and law enforcement on public transport in Stockholm.

Rapid Cleaning and Removal

It is company policy to remove graffiti and repair vandalism as soon as practical. When there is graffiti on a bus or train, it will be taken out of service and cleaned within twenty-four hours. If the graffiti is on a station or trackside, it will be removed as soon as possible. SL employs a hundred staff for the rapid cleaning of graffiti. There are cleaning staff available for twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week.

From observation of travelling by bus and train in Stockholm, there were very few examples of graffiti on the rolling stock.

Design Measures

In response to graffiti and vandalism, SL now uses more robust materials for the interiors of train carriages to make them easier to clean and restore. New rolling stock, especially on the Metro, is designed with open carriages, clear sight sights, and good lighting and visibility.

The Stockholm underground system was inaugurated in 1950. From the start, artists were involved in providing interiors for the stations that would 'make underground travel an experience instead of just a means of transport'. There was a dual purpose - the artists believed these interiors could both provide an enhanced travel experience and 'counteract vandalism'.

Public Art Features in the Stockholm Metro

Following the competition to decorate the main T-Centralen station announced in 1956, the process was judged to be a success and more stations became the focus of artistic design. Today, sculptures, mosaics and paintings can be found in ninety of the Metro's hundred stations, most in chambers shaped from solid rock. Some 140 artists have contributed to the Metro's permanent art exhibition and many more have contributed to temporary art features. SL invests SEK 19 millions a year in developing and safeguarding this artwork, including from graffiti and vandalism.

Preventive Work in Schools

To prevent the recruitment of young people into graffiti, SL has more than thirty school representatives employed by the company to visit all schools and talk to Year 5 and 6 students. Those representatives who visit the schools are bus and train drivers. SL's school representatives have an important role in reaching out to young people and in guiding and informing teachers and parents.

Falck Security

Falck Security is a private company that is contracted by SL to provide plain clothes security guards to patrol the rail and underground network. The guards will carry out a citizen's arrest to apprehend the perpetrators of criminal activities, including vandalism and graffiti. It is based on a similar operation in Oslo where a private security company was hired to work in plain clothes to detect and apprehend vandals. It was found that this approach was much more effective than patrolling in uniform.

The Falck Vandal Squad in Stockholm was established in 1996. Initially, it was a small team that spent time learning the graffiti sub-culture and gathering intelligence. Today, there are many more guards in the Vandal Squad and they operate twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.

Since March 1996, the Vandal Squad has apprehended 900 young people in the act of vandalism and graffiti. On a targeted operation, Falck Security has apprehended up to thirty people engaged in acts of criminal damage, including those on 'look-out' for security or the police. To be apprehended, the person does not have to have a can of spray paint in their hand, but to be acting together with those engaged in the graffiti.

The Vandal Squad meets regularly with the Justices to raise awareness of the scale and seriousness of the problems on the public transport network.

4.4 Stockholm Subway Police

The Subway Police was first set up in 1967 and by the mid-1980s had 170 officers. It was disbanded in 1994 during a major re-structuring of the Stockholm Police Force. At that time, the Stockholm police were re-organised into eight new districts and each district included responsibility for public transport, including the Metro. However, in 1998. it was decided that specialist skills were needed to police the underground and the Subway Police were reinstated, although not at the same strength.

A new bus shelter in a residential district of Stockholm vandalised with a tag and scratched glass

Cover of the booklet circulated to families across Stockholm to raise awareness of the dangers and cost of graffiti and vandalism

The Subway Graffiti Unit was set up in February 2000, initially with five officers and currently with nine. The Unit gathers intelligence on all incidents of graffiti, with tags and pieces registered on a database. There is a Scandinavian network for exchanging information and intelligence and the Unit contributes to this.

Although each of the police districts remains responsible for investigating an incident and bringing charges, the Graffiti Unit will inform, advise and co-ordinate these activities. The Unit will also carry out its own investigation and prosecute when the offence is known to be the work of a prolific perpetrator responsible for many incidents.

The Graffiti Unit has a meeting once a week with Falck Security to exchange information and co-ordinate operations. Initially, relationships between the Graffiti Unit and Falck were strained, but this has much improved with regular communication, and the security guards now attend a one day's training with the police.

4.5 Lugna Gathan - Calm Streets

Lugna Gathan is a voluntary sector initiative that developed in 1995, initially through the involvement of SL. As mentioned earlier, major changes in the structure of the Stockholm police meant there was no longer a Subway Police force to patrol the underground network. SL was faced with two alternatives - either to employ security guards or to try a different approach. As a consequence Calm Streets was funded by SL, with unemployed and disadvantaged young people recruited and employed to patrol the network.

Calm Streets has now extended its funding and activities to work in schools and within the community to help young people who are the victims of crime and at risk of offending. Most of the young people that Calm Streets works with are between 15 and 19 years. It has a Board of Management that includes the Mayor of Stockholm, the Chief of Police, a representative from SL and community representatives.

On the Metro, there are about sixty young people who patrol the network in pairs. They are there to assist passengers and enhance their feelings of safety, but not to apprehend troublemakers. There are concerns from SL about the deployment and efficiency of these patrols. Calm Streets also has a role in working with young people who hang about the Metro system and stations. They talk to these young people, gain their trust and attempt to engage them in constructive activities. Such interventions are said to prevent offending behaviour in the wider community, including on the Metro system.

The ethos of Calm Streets is to recruit people who are representative of the young people they work with. That is to employ people with similar life experiences and ethnicity and live in the same geographical areas in Stockholm County. There is said to be a great deal of frustration among young people, especially those who come from immigrant communities, because those working for the police and other official organisations do not reflect the diversity of Stockholm's present day residents. Calm Streets wanted to break this pattern and give those socially excluded young people an opportunity to access employment and act as positive role models to other young people from economically disadvantaged communities.

It was hoped that, through the experience of working for Calm Streets, these young adults would move on to access other employment, for example in the police or fire services or Falck Security. Originally, the maximum period working for Calm Streets was to have been two years. However, many have not moved on but are still employed with Calm Streets as adults, some with family responsibilities.

About a hundred people are now employed in Calm Streets, with most employees aged between 20 and 30 years. The staff employed by Calm Streets speak more than thirty different languages and they employ people from many different ethnic and religious groups. Everyone in the organisation wears a distinctive shirt and jacket. As well as its citywide role in patrolling the Metro, Calm Streets works within the community in fifteen Stockholm suburbs.

Calm Streets can be invited by a school to help with problems of offending or anti-social behaviour, including vandalism, and drug misuse. Currently, it is working in about ten different schools. The approach is to begin by talking to the young people about their problems, the kind of incidents that occur and who are responsible. Time will be taken building up the trust of the young people before discussing issues with the teachers and bringing them together.

Calm Streets will work with the young people to develop a group of students to represent the school. Anyone can apply to be in this group, whether they have been responsible for past incidents or not. Calm Streets have found that "the troublemakers are often the ones who can solve the problems". However, once a member of that group, they have to take responsibility and provide a good role model for other students and attend school. Calm Streets will provide classes in anger management and conflict resolution. The police and other agencies will be involved to help raise awareness of drug misuse and the consequences of offending behaviour. Calm Streets will also involve the parents and support them and the young person who has been involved in offending behaviour or been the victim of crime.

4.6 Issues emerging from the initiative

The experience of SL and the Stockholm police is that 'legal walls' merely provide practice sites for the perpetrators of graffiti who will prefer and continue to use illegal sites. Those involved in graffiti do not use the Internet as a substitute medium but as means of communication and for extending publicity for their pieces and tags. With more transport operators adopting a policy of rapid removal of graffiti, perpetrators increasingly see the Internet as a more permanent arena for the display of their pieces and tags.

The free availability of spray paints remains a problem. In Stockholm, there is a shop specialising in spray paint selling the cans at cheaper prices to those who are members through their regular involvement in graffiti. Despite attempts by the authorities to restrict or stop the trade, this shop is said to be selling about 30,000 cans of spray paint a week. Changes in legislation that provided for restrictions on the open sale of spray paints would be effective.

Advertising and the media can give out mixed messages that suggest graffiti is acceptable. SL has an agreement with the local media that pictures of graffiti will not be shown as this only fuels the perpetrator's desire for acknowledgement and publicity.

The language used in describing graffiti and how it is tackled is important. In Stockholm, it is considered important not to refer to the response as a 'war' as this is aligned to the culture of violence and aggression increasingly adopted by the perpetrators.

There is little scope for intervention for a young person engaged in their first act of vandalism or graffiti.

If the police or Falck Security apprehend a person of 15 years or younger, the only recourse is for a social worker to contact the young person and their parents. This can only result in one visit and the young person may not receive the message that such activities are serious and unacceptable. The Graffiti Team with the Subway Police have developed a proposal to work with young people aged between 10 and 13 years who have offended for the first time. If this proposal is developed, it will involve meetings with the young person and their parents to talk through the incident and explain the consequences of re-offending and reinforce parental responsibility.

Parents, teachers and youth workers in particular should learn to spot the early signs of a child's or young person's engagement with graffiti. There can be important signs from scribbles in a school book that could suggest the beginnings of an attraction with the sub-culture.

It is often difficult to get the criminal justice system and the Courts to respond to graffiti with sufficient seriousness. The police, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and SL have suggested a number of changes to the criminal code. In particular, that the maximum sentence should be one year's imprisonment and not six months as currently. Also, that the stop and search powers should be extended to permit the police to search suspected perpetrators for spray paint cans. It is hoped that some of these changes will go before the Swedish Parliament.

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