Neighbor helps cops catch taggers: 'I want 'em'

HILLSBORO, Ore. -  “I want ‘em. I can taste ‘em. I want to catch ‘em,” Devin Heard said Tuesday recounting how he watched three teenagers vandalize his mailbox with graffiti Saturday.

At first Heard said he didn’t know what the three teenagers standing near his mailbox at the head of his driveway were up to, but on Tuesday he pointed to the remnants of paint on the mailbox as evidence of what the teens did.

Hillsboro police said the teenagers hit 32 sites; some of them were at a Hillsboro shopping center.

“Then I ran down and got in my car. I was still on the phone with 9-1-1 and said, ‘I’m going to chase after them’. I said, ‘I want ‘em,’” Heard said.

Neighbors pointed out the teenagers who had hid in some shrubs to police. Heard helped police catch two of the suspects on the spot and investigators eventually tracked down the third.

“We do encourage people to be good witnesses, make good notes about what’s going on and call immediately and follow safely if you can,” said Lt. Mike Rouches of the Hillsboro Police Department.

Hillsboro police said it may be time to start talking about adding another restriction to the buying power of vandals to help fight graffiti.

Since restrictions on buying canned spray paint forced vandals to turn to large marking pens, police said it could be time to restrict sales on those pens too.

Hillsboro police cadets will be out this Saturday working to clean off some of the graffiti the vandals scrawled on property. They are also looking for volunteers.

The vandalism could get expensive for those teenager’s parents. A juvenile court judge could fine the parents as much as $250 per incident.