PORT ARTHUR — Climbing up a short set of stairs and across a small bridge, Henry Barbosa pointed the spray wand of a pressure washer directly at a long winding slide.

Water blasted onto the plastic playground equipment that had already seen a solution of Elephant Snot Graffiti Removal product thus removing vulgar words and other types of graffiti at the Felix and Milton Barker Park, located at Pecos Avenue and Seventh Street, on Thursday.

Several members of Port Arthur Street Crimes Unit were on hand at the park while Barbosa performed the duty he has volunteered for for the past three years.

A second crew was also out and about in the Lakeview area of town cleaning graffiti and in some instances painting over graffiti.

Port Arthur Police Officer Mike Hebert said the groups took care of about 20 spots in the area. The next step, he said, is to install video surveillance cameras.

“We’ve had tips from informants ,” Hebert said regarding the identity of the persons responsible for the graffiti. “One of those persons is in jail right now on an unrelated charge, several auto thefts.”

The graffiti the police are dealing with has roots in violence  and is a form of “gang tagging” in which gang members mark areas as their territory. The current offenders are believed to be juveniles and members of the Norte 14 and Sur 13 Mexican gangs, he said.

“This goes off the ‘broken window’ theory all officers are taught in academy. If you allow kids to tag, then a rival gang will come and tag too,” he said. “It’s a cycle. You have to break it. Go in and clean it up. And knowing that every time  they tag, we clean. In theory, if you do that they will move to a different area.”

Hebert said the Anti-Graffiti Project works on city owned property and property red tagged by the city for demolition as well as helping senior citizens who may not have the resources or physical ability to clean the graffiti.

“This is probably the best we’ve seen our city since we’ve taken the program over three years ago,” he said.

Barbosa, a member of Concerned Citizens of Pear Ridge, works with PAPD’s Anti-Graffiti Project. His reason for volunteering his time and effort is simple.

“It’s my home,” Barbosa said. “I still think Port Arthur has a chance to move forward.”

Hebert added to the conversation, saying they want the neighbors to come out and not be afraid of going to the park, to take an interest in the community just as they are.

Persons interested in assisting can call the Street Crimes Unit at 983-8680. Senior citizens who need assistance getting rid of graffiti can call the Concerned Citizens of Pear Ridge office at 985-7561.

mmeaux@panews.com