Criminal justice students wipe out Rapid City graffiti

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) -The Western Dakota Tech criminal justice students gave back to the community with just a paint roller and a little elbow grease.

The Rapid City Police Department partnered with students in an effort to wipe out graffiti in communities.

“It’s beneficial to the community and it’s beneficial to the student. We try to teach some of the core values of the industry such as community service and community betterment and those are the things that are hard to learn inside of the classroom,” said Peter Ragone, criminal justice program director for Western Dakota Tech

Spray painting someone else’s property is illegal and, if caught by law enforcement, an individual can face serious consequences.

“Depending on the incident, there are laws that prohibit doing graffiti called ‘intentional damage to private property’ and, yes, it comes with a fine.”

For the WDT students, the cleanup is more than community service. It’s a chance for the class to start fighting crime ... one misdemeanor at a time.

“We’re doing graffiti clean up as a class, and we’re just going around the community and just finding graffiti on the walls or buildings and infrastructures and painting over it,” said Julius Morris, law enforcement academy student.

Those who are interested in helping the RCPD address graffiti in their neighborhood can call the police department.

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