Police Beat by Tom Geyer

I learned some good news for home- and business-owners whose property was damaged recently by teens spray painting gang-related graffiti. A lawyer friend of mine I saw at the gym told me about Iowa’s Parental Respsonsibilty Law that says owners of damaged property can sue the parents of the kids for money to pay for repairs.
The Iowa Code is 613.16 Parental responsibility for actions of children.
That law states that the parent has a legal obligation of an “unemancipated child” or rather a child living under their roof, to pay for damages the child causes. Now, this is property damage such as is done with spray paints or other types of vandalism. (It does not include auto accidents and such.)
Property owners can get up to $2,000 for any one act, or up to $5,000 for two or more acts.
The parents and the minor child, that is a child under 18, are to be named as defendants. Check with an attorney, but it is my understanding that it can all be filed in small claims by the property owner without the need of an attorney. It is good advice though to spend a few minutes with an attorney just to make sure it is all done properly.

In the media section are four photos of gang graffiti that a reader in Davenport sent. Police are investigating a rash of tagging involving gang symbols. Both private and public property has been tagged by the gangs that include symbols of the Latin Kings, Nortenos, and Gangster Disciples.

Over the course of February the number of incidents of gang graffiti being sprayed on businesses, homes and at public parks exploded, Davenport police said.

Incidents went from around 11-15 incidents per month, to about 60 for February.

The Nortenos hit the Davenport Skate Park. The Gangster Diciples tagged the Wiese Building near the Putnam Museum. The Latin Kings have hit the downtown area hard, spray painting their signs on businesses and homes.

The Quad-City Times is tracking these incidents and would love to have your photos of this gang graffiti in the neighborhoods. We plan to use your photos to track the incidents on a map.

You can post your photos of gang graffiti here on the blog or you may e-mail them to me at tgeyer@qctimes.com.