ASU Police still has no leads regarding tagging incidents that occurred earlier this month on the West campus.
During the weekend of Nov. 4 “taggers” at the West campus marked up the outside walls of two classroom buildings.
University police are working with West Valley agencies such as Phoenix and Glendale Police to identify the taggers through their trademark “tags,” ASU West Police Sgt. Daniel Macias said.
“We are trying to identify … who certain taggers are or what kind of crews are using the tags,” he said.
The tags — not to be confused with graffiti, which is considered more artistic than tagging — typically consist of letters put together that form the tagger’s symbol.
The campus has only seen a few cases of taggings since the summer. Tagged places include the south wall of Fletcher Library, the Sands Classroom Building and the Classroom/Lab/Computer Classroom Building. According to a police alert, the taggings typically happen during the weekend after dusk.
The taggings earlier this month took place on the walls of the SANDS and CCLC buildings.
“It’s disheartening that somebody’s taking time to do this,” said David Anaya, chief of staff for Undergraduate Student Government West. “We pride ourselves on being a very clean campus, a very well presented campus.”
The West campus was awarded the Phoenix Point of Pride in 2008, an honor awarded to campuses, parks, cultural facilities and historic residences for their contributions to the quality of life in the greater Phoenix area.
“We want to make sure we maintain that reputation, so we as the student government are continuing to look at ways to keep our campus beautiful and accessible to as many people as possible,” Anaya said.
For elementary education junior Diana Spies, the West campus is more than just an attractive place, it’s where she goes to learn, and that makes the campus much more special.
“It’s appalling; it makes me so sick to my stomach,” she said of the tagging. “I take pride in my education and I don’t say it a lot, but I do like ASU.”
Spies said besides the taggings, the recent shooting that took place on Nov. 3 has also been on her mind.
Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Nov. 9 for firing a single shot from a handgun at a group of students at the volleyball courts near the Las Casas Residence Hall.
She said the University should screen incoming traffic into the campus to make it more exclusive.
Campus security and police regularly walk around the campus to ensure the safety of students and faculty, as well as deter any illegal activity. Often times, however, with about 6,000 people traversing through the campus, it’s easy to miss wrongdoers.
Anaya stressed the need for an increase in safety escort services on the West campus. This would provide more traffic, or discourage illegal activity by having more people in the area, as well as increase safety to stop these taggings, he said.
“As our campus grows we want to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of the students that we have here,” Anaya said. “So we’re looking at bringing that service to students here.”
The taggers are not considered dangerous, but police are still asking for the public to immediately report any suspicious behavior, Macias said.
“Even if they think it’s not significant, it could be significant later,” Macias said.
Reach the reporter at sraymund@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
