Photos by Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Warren Gaston, a Ventura graffiti-abatement worker, paints over graffiti at Hobert Park. 'I hate tagging,' Gaston said. He hits the streets early in the morning to wipe out taggers' work.

It's just after 7 a.m. in the early dawn chill, and Warren Gaston already is breaking a sweat.

Using a spray chemical and rag, he's rubbed out graffiti on a telephone booth, a newspaper stand and a half-dozen walls. By day's end, he will have responded to more than 40 calls to the city's graffiti hotline.

Documented incidents of gang graffiti or vandalism in Ventura jumped from 72 in 2005 to 318 last year, and no one knows it more than Gaston, the city's lone full-time graffiti-abatement employee.

A hard-charger with a low tolerance for taggers, Gaston often hits the streets at dawn. He insists the best way to defeat these vandals is to eliminate their handiwork before anyone notices.

"I hate tagging," he says as he prepares a batch of white paint. "And I hate the idea that they think they are going to put something up and we are not going to do anything about it."

With graffiti on the rise, Gaston, Ventura police and county prosecutors are turning to high-tech tools to track and catch graffiti vandals.

The reasons behind the increase are unclear, although Ventura police believe it is tied to a surge in gang-related crimes over the past year. Fearing graffiti could lead to more serious incidents, the Police Department has dedicated an officer, Al Gomez, to partner with Gaston to gather data and evidence.

Beyond his buckets of paint and roller brushes, Gaston now takes digital photos of everything he removes and records the costs associated with the often time-consuming work.

Meanwhile, Gomez scours the Internet and popular social networking sites such as MySpace.com to catch taggers who brag about their exploits. Police also are considering purchasing a camera outfitted with a global positioning system.

Such sophisticated tools allow police to build stronger cases against suspects than just a few years ago, Deputy District Attorney John Barrick said.

Cities in Ventura County are paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to clean up graffiti that can reduce real estate values, frustrate residents and turn neighborhoods into eyesores.

Ventura spends close to $200,000, officials said. Oxnard, the county's largest city, spends more than three times that. Camarillo recently created a full-time graffiti detective and like Oxnard has formed a group of volunteers to help paint over graffiti.

Harsher penalties

Prosecutors also are stepping up enforcement and seeking harsher punishments.

"We absolutely will use the most aggressive measures provided by law," said Bill Haney, a senior deputy district attorney. "We are increasingly hearing from residents that they are sick of this."

A state law that took effect in December allows judges to revoke the driver's licenses of graffiti vandals for up to three years. Juveniles convicted of vandalism but who don't yet have a driver's license can get three-year suspensions of future driving privileges.

Those who cause more than $400 worth of damage can face felony charges and up to three years in prison. Then there are court fees, and restitution that must be paid to the property owner.

Prosecutors also are charging graffiti vandals with conspiracy if it can be proved that two or more conspired to commit the vandalism.

"We are going to be filing more felonies," Deputy District Attorney Leroy Wu said. "And we will always ask for restitution. They should be required to pay for it."

Gaston has been blotting out graffiti in Ventura since 1999. The Oxnard resident didn't grow up thinking it would be his calling. He started with Ventura as a part-timer, but when its previous in-house graffiti employee left, Gaston took the job. He had held desk jobs before and hated being chained to one place.

Warren Gaston uses a pressure wash to remove graffiti from a wall on Wellington Street in east Ventura.

"This is perfect for me," said Gaston, who doesn't hesitate to come in on Saturdays to paint over graffiti.

Anti-graffiti arsenal

On the job, he tows a trailer filled with his arsenal: chemical sprays, various buckets of paint, long-handled brushes. There's a generator to run a pressure washer and a paint sprayer. He said he's never had more work.

"A lot of communities throw their hands up in the air because they are swamped," he said. "But Ventura said no way, because it's a quality-of-life issue. We go after it immediately."

City policy is to remove reported graffiti within 48 hours. Gaston aims for 24 hours.

"Warren has a passion for removing graffiti," said Chris Palmieri, Gaston's boss. "He takes it personal. He's tireless."

Gaston said he believes most of the damage is generated by a small number of "hard-core" individuals. Most taggers likely are in their teens and early 20s, he said, but he's convinced they are not necessarily low-income.

"They can't steal that much paint, so they are probably not poor kids," he said. "We know they are buying it."

No one knows whether the increased enforcement will deter taggers. A crackdown by local authorities in the 1990s made a dent for a while, police said, but the graffiti picked up again.

Gaston, however, plans to have the last word.

"I don't get discouraged," he said. "Most guys who do this job get to where they hate doing it. It gets monotonous. But, see, I just hate it (graffiti) so much.

"Especially when they do a really nice, big mural on the wall. Oh man, I get so excited. My heart starts racing. I hope they watch me when I am taking it off. Because I know they go by there. And I want them to think, "What's the use? As soon as we put it up, he's going to take it off right again.'"