It was a Wednesday, November 6, when a Seattle Police Department detective was driving along a street in Kent and suddenly spotted a graffiti tagger he had been trying to find for a long time. He was wanted for suspicion of felony malicious mischief, according to Kent Police.
The detective started following the suspect and called local dispatchers for back-up, police said. When the Kent officers who responded were in place, they all made a “high risk traffic stop” and detained the 31-year-old Tacoma man without incident.
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Photos: Kent police
In the hours that followed, Kent Police say they sealed the suspect’s car, and transported it to the Kent police station. At the same time the Seattle detective wrote out a search warrant, asking a judge for permission to break the seals and investigate inside the suspect’s car where officers say they initially found dozens of cans of spray paint and four firearms. Photos of the firearms show they included two pistols and two assault rifles.
Officers say they also found a rappelling harness possibly used by the suspect to lower himself into areas that are tough to reach.
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However, the one item that police found that really caught their attention was a book titled ‘Vandal Squad’ written by former N.Y. Transit Police Officer Joseph Rivera who became the lead investigator of the Graffiti Habitual Offender Suppression Team or G.H.O.S.T. According to the book, graffiti taggers who mostly targeted New York City’s subway system and gained fame with their tags, were often transient, elusive and cloaked in anonymity, therefore were referred to by officers as Ghosts.
Kent police think the suspect they detained was studying the book to gain insights into the strategies and tactics police departments deploy in order to catch taggers.
In response on Facebook, Kent police responded, “That’s ok though, because we study too and our investigative lessons seem to be sticking better.”
Police have yet to name the graffiti suspect. They say he is wanted for multiple incidents of vandalism in Seattle.
Luke Duecy is a reporter for KIRO Newsradio.
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