Brown Hangs Tough On Graffiti
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Asked whether his office has been tough enough on graffiti vandals, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown replied that he takes vandalism very seriously. Pointing to the recent guilty plea of graffiti vandal Oliver Siandre, Brown noted the 29-year-old man, who spray-painted a reported 600 "KiKo" tags in Western Queens, was now a convicted felon.

"If he is caught doing it again, he gets mandatory jail time," Brown said at the United Community Civic Association (UCCA) meeting on March 1.

According to a plea agreement reached last October, Siandre will get another two and a third to seven years in state prison if he violates his five-year probation after he finishes serving his six-month jail term at Rikers Island. He must also pay $25,000 restitution to the community. In addition, his case set a precedent in sending a graffiti vandal to jail.

"We're tough when we have to be tough," said Brown. "But we don't want to take a 16- year-old kid and turn him into a hardened criminal by sending him to Rikers Island."

Inspector Brian McCarthy, commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, praised the efforts of D.A. Brown in handling the prosecutions of arrested graffiti offenders. "We had 126 graffiti arrests in 2006, best in New York City," he said. There have been 30 graffiti arrests in the 114th so far in 2007.

"We look for tags, conduct search warrants," said McCarthy, noting 65 percent of those arrested for graffiti violations in the 114th are under 18 years old and live in Astoria.

Siandre, according to police reports cited in the February 28-March 6 edition of The Village Voice, was arrested twice for graffiti crimes beginning at 16 years of age. For his first offense, he was sentenced to two weeks of community service as he was on his second arrest as well. But he was warned that a third time would be treated much more severely. The two prior convictions helped the case against him when he was arrested a year and a half ago (he still used the Kiko tag), and ultimately to send him to jail more than ten years after his first graffiti offense.

Brown was also asked about the proceedings of the grand jury investigating the controversial Sean Bell shooting last November.

"There's very little I can say about it," said Brown, referring to the secrecy of a grand jury process. He also said that in the event of any indictment by the grand jury, he was precluded from comment because he would be handling the prosecution's case.

"I will tell you the grand jury has been hard at work for a number of weeks now and I can anticipate they will conclude their work two to three weeks from now. They've been hearing a lot of testimony and evidence," he said.

Asked about sensitivity training for police, Brown said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has hired the Rand Corporation to "take a look at some of the issues that the Bell case presents".