Please call the City of Ventura's Graffiti Hotline at 805-654-7805 or email [email protected] whenever you see graffiti. The line is open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. The City's Public Works Graffiti Removal Unit strives to remove all graffiti within 48 hours from the time we receive your call.

The City of Ventura is committed to promptly removing graffiti from public areas. Experience has shown that removing graffiti as soon as it occurs is the best prevention against future graffiti.

Graffiti Prevention

There are several steps you can take to prevent future graffiti tagging:

• If you see graffiti in progress, report it by calling 9-1-1. Don’t try to intervene.
• Contact the property owner whose building has been vandalized by graffiti and stress the importance of quick cleanup. Form a neighborhood group to help property owners clean up graffiti quickly.
• Prevent graffiti. Rapid removal tells vandals that people care about their place of business and neighborhood and that their work has little chance of being seen.
• Plain smooth surfaces invite graffiti. For walls, choose patterned and rough concrete surfaces or tiled or mosaic surfaces; for fences, use chain, lattice, or wooden picket fences.
• Choose paints and coating to deter graffiti. Dark colors make graffiti harder to see. Anti-graffiti coatings are available as well.
• Plant trees, shrubs, or climbing vines to restrict access to tempting walls. Plants with thorns or strong scents are good deterrents.
• Use good lighting to deter vandals from popular graffiti sites.