Trainings
Every city is different, for that reason we have developed a series of training sessions that will be included in your package. Below is a list of sessions that will be tailored and modified for the needs of your particular City, to ensure a more targeted approach*:
Session:
City Tour |
Purpose:
For The Graffiti Consultants to get a firsthand look at the neighborhoods, parks, businesses, city facilities and graffiti in your city.
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Policy Makers Meeting |
This meeting will afford The Graffiti Consultants the opportunity to share the agenda for the week. If the local policy makers are fully committed to drastically reducing graffiti in your city and in following all of the activities in The Graffiti Consultants Final Anti-Graffiti Blueprint, you will be extremely successful.
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Press Conference and Lunch |
The local Policy Makers will endorse your new anti-graffiti effort at this Press Conference. They will also pledge their commitment to its success. This is also the best way to publicize other anti-graffiti activities that you will sponsor during this week.
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City Wide Graffiti Survey |
The city staff will learn why this survey is so critical in measuring your success in fighting graffiti. They will also learn how to plan the survey, including securing and training staff so there is a consistency among the surveyors, how to complete the paperwork needed to track the graffiti tags and how to interpret the results and design future efforts based on your findings. You will also be able to make many important program improvements based on the results of the survey. This survey will ultimately be the foundation of your ability to accurately measure your success. In the years to come, you will be confidently able to announce your success in very quantifiable terms.
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Performance Targets |
To avoid the mistake of having useless and even detrimental goals. The city staff will learn the difference between what should be tracked because it is a valid performance target goal and what should be tracked because it will provide useful information that will be valuable when deciding on program improvements.
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How to Recruit, Motivate and Retain Anti-Graffiti Volunteers |
Rick will start to provide city staff with hands on training on all aspects needed to have a successful anti-graffiti volunteer army. They will learn and practice the actual script used to recruit over 3,400 people who remove graffiti on their own time and in their own neighborhoods. Also, four distinct methods of recruiting volunteers will be highlighted. A recommendation of free supplies to offer and the issue of liability will also be discussed; as well as additional topics of paper work, tracking, record keeping, retention of volunteers and follow up. The more anti-graffiti volunteers you have, the more graffiti will be removed from your city streets. A sense of pride and accomplishment will rise up in your neighborhoods.
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Vendors and Products |
To become aware of the many vendors and products available to assist you with your anti-graffiti efforts. IMPORTANT NOTE: The Graffiti Consultants will bring to your attention any and all vendors and products known to us. However we do not recommend any products over any others. Also, we do not receive any compensation from any graffiti product vendors. Your city staff should conduct thorough research on any product in which you are interested before you make any purchases.
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City Wide Graffiti Survey in a Section of the City |
Your city personnel will receive practical experience in conducting the graffiti survey. When they are finished they will know how to organize an entire citywide graffiti survey. They will also be trained in how to record and analyze the results and how to make program changes to improve your service delivery based on the statistical data – not on public or political outcries. This improved service delivery will reduce graffiti because staff will know where to focus their proactive graffiti removal efforts and graffiti volunteer efforts.
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Code Enforcement |
A focused discussion regarding a highly successful practice that really works for owners of private property who have been victims of graffiti vandalism. This easy-to-implement system allows your city to graciously assist these property owners and also have them step forward and become responsible for the removal of future graffiti vandalism on their property with almost no screams of “the graffiti vandals have victimized me and now your city is victimizing me again”. When private property owners quickly clean graffiti from their own properties, your city saves money because crews do not have to do this work and can proactively clean graffiti elsewhere. There will also be a discussion about keeping graffiti off of construction sites.
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Penalties that Work |
General discussion of current policies regarding graffiti vandalism. The focus will be on what penalties work to deter graffiti vandals from striking again. When these vandals cease their criminal behavior, they usually stay out of the juvenile justice system. This gives them a better chance to become productive members of the community instead of allowing them to continue to victimize other law-abiding citizens.
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Catching Graffiti Vandals |
In depth training on how to locate and arrest graffiti vandals. Several specific tips will be discussed on topics such as how to work with schools, interviews, surveillance, probation searches and search warrants. Your officers will also learn how to work with other law enforcement jurisdictions and how to prepare cases for the District Attorney. When the police become more successful in citing and arresting the graffiti vandals, the word spreads in the graffiti underworld. When this happens, many taggers, and want to be taggers, quit for fear of getting caught.
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What Not To Do |
It is as important (or maybe more important) to know whatnot to do, as it is to know what to do. Expending effort and resources on projects and tasks that produce minimal or no results is a waste of money, time and energy and will leave staff and administrators frustrated and angry. This “grab bag” of “what not to do” items was developed the hard way . . . by trial and error. By avoiding this list, you can concentrate on the tasks that will really make the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time.
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Prepare for meeting with Mayor and City Manager and City Assigned Person |
This meeting will be used to prepare the outline for issues to discuss at the Mayor and City Manager’s meeting.
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Neighborhood Leaders Meeting |
Your city staff will get to see The Graffiti Consultants in action, first hand at a volunteer leaders training made up of community leaders throughout the city. Leaders from neighborhood associations, schools, religious groups, youth sports groups, business associations, etc., should be strongly encouraged to attend. The Graffiti Consultants will demonstrate his presentation for the audience, encourage them to volunteer to keep their neighborhood clean and above all . . . sign up their group for a future training so city staff can train and recruit their members. You can tape this presentation to be used for future training sessions. Staff will see how The Graffiti Consultants tie all of the lessons that were shared at the training earlier in the day, into one smooth presentation that is practically fool proof. After receiving our training and observing the practicum, city staff will be fully armed with everything you need to recruit the army of volunteers you need to win your war on graffiti. The service time these volunteers will contribute to your city will become a treasured municipal asset. Imagine . . . just 100 volunteers who help your city and themselves by removing graffiti just two hours a week for 50 weeks a year; if they removed just five tags per hour – that is 50,000 tags removed per year, and if their time is worth just $8.00 per hour that is $80,000 worth of service time being donated to your city.
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Collaborative Partnership Social |
Don’t keep your effort a secret. It’s time to let your future graffiti partners know what you are doing and commit to the effort. This session will be short on formal speeches (just a quick overview of your plans) and long on socialization. The social should include a free continental breakfast. The bottom line is that you want all of these new partners to commit in writing to appoint two representatives per organization to join your new Graffiti Technical Advisory Team that will meet monthly to discuss common graffiti related problems and solutions.
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Mayor and City Manager Update |
It is important to review our initial impression with the Mayor and City Manager before we leave from our initial three-day training effort. This is also an opportunity for the Mayor and City Manager and to provide feedback to The Graffiti Consultants.
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Eradication Ride-Along Practical |
The abatement staff member will take Rick on a ride- along to demonstrate you graffiti removal techniques.
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Volunteer Practical Evaluation |
After the previous night’s presentation, staff will input the new volunteers’ information into a database. They will discuss with Rick the details of the presentation and practice presenting the script to Rick until they can deliver the presentation with confidence. They will also review the entire paperwork process so that the whole volunteer system is fully understood and ready to be implemented.
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Eradication |
We will discuss the Graffiti Hotline, proactive abatement strategies, city abatement policies and record keeping. It is critical to use your Abatement Staff as efficiently as possible and this session is designed to make sure that you are getting the “biggest bang for your buck.”
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"Grab Bag" of Graffiti Related Topics |
The additional topics that will be discussed include educational programs, how to organize your city for a successful anti-graffiti effort, construction site graffiti, graffiti on non-city owned property, multi-agency graffiti meetings, developing a spirit of cooperation among agencies and graffiti abatement contracting.
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Graffiti Prevention and Education |
A thorough discussion will take place outlining all of the activities available for youth in your city. This list should include traditional programs as well as those designed for at-risk youth. There will be an additional discussion outlining the overriding primary motivation that drives youth to graffiti vandalism. City staff will share with The Graffiti Consultants any presentations that are used to provide graffiti information to the schools to encourage students to stay away from graffiti vandalism. The session will conclude on what can and cannot be expected with efforts to integrate hard-core, new and “wanna be” graffiti vandals into constructive, positive extra-curricular activities.
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*Full package will include all of the training sessions listed above. Partial package (i.e. Graffiti Mini-Plan) will include only a select few training sessions from the list above.