Confronting a graffiti-tagger

Several months ago I saw a kid dressed in baggy black and white clothes walk up to a Speed Limit sign, take out a black marker and calmly scribble his moniker. I was at home and saw the whole thing occur outside my living room window. Not being someone who stands for this, I walked outside and caught up to the tagger.

"Look," I said, "it's one thing to tag up the side of an abandoned building, but it's another when you do the same shit on an important sign that drivers need to see." He flashed a smile, nodded and gave me a thumbs up. "Cool man," he said and walked away.

I returned to my house and looked at the sign to see 'Wovo' scribbled there. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with the graffiti scene, taggers compete amongst each other for bragging rights over:

1 - who tags the most objects
2 - who can tag something in a hard-to-reach area or somewhere with high traffic
3 - artistry of the tag

'Wovo' is one of the most prolific graffiti artists in all of Reno. I have seen his work in dozens of places - buildings, road signs, freeway overpasses, etc. I think many Reno residents have seen his calling card too. Graffiti is one the major issues this year because it has gotten so bad.

I quickly called the police and gave them a detailed description, then took a picture of his ‘Wovo’ sign and emailed it to them. Hopefully my tip helps them arrest this criminal before he defaces someone else's property.

UPDATE: One month later, a group of fire fighters driving by in their truck caught 'Wovo' tagging a brick wall. When they told him to quit 'Wovo' turned around and opened fire on them with a gun! The police responded immediately and they cornered 'Wovo' in the condo building next to mine. Police vehicles, fire department trucks and news vans filled the street within the hour. 'Wovo' eventually surrendered to authorities and later got sentenced to one year in prison. He is 16 years old….such a waste, so very sad.