Spray-painted symbols have been splattered on structures around Wrightsville Beach for months. Wrightsville Beach Police Chief Dan House and his officers have attempted to catch the person responsible for the graffiti, but the unidentified vandal has proven illusive.
House said the graffiti is usually the same combination of symbols, leading officials to believe it is the work of one individual. The mark has been evaluated by a New Hanover County gang task force and intelligence unit and is not believed to be gang related.
The Wrightsville Beach Police Department is in the process of installing more surveillance cameras at various locations around town, partly in response to the defacing of private property. Earlier this year, stationary cameras with digital zoom capability and pan tilt zoom, where an officer can manipulate the camera from a mobile device, were installed in the downtown district.
Cameras are currently being installed near Crystal Pier in response to recent vandalism to the town’s public bathrooms. House said although cameras do cut down on vandalism, the perpetrator seems aware of the location of the cameras and therefore able to avoid detection.
“It used to be all down Salisbury Street, and other places that would have been plainly in view of our cameras,” House said during an Oct. 14 phone interview. “Ever since we put cameras there, that has died out and now they’re picking other areas.”
House said the town makes an effort to paint over any graffiti tags that appear on town property.
“We try to clean it up pretty quickly,” House said, “but if it’s somebody’s property or anything like that we can’t touch it.”
House said that includes the unoccupied Food Mart, where graffiti-splattered walls are clearly visible by anyone driving down Salisbury Street.
“We’ve asked the company that has that [property] to let us go over there and paint the green parts green and that kind of thing, and they said they’re going to get it cleaned up but we haven’t seen that yet,” House said.
Other locations vandalized include areas beneath Johnnie Mercer’s Pier and a submerged hazard sign near the Stone Street beach access. House said he hopes to continue installing surveillance cameras to eventually cover all of town infrastructure and any other locations recommend by the board of aldermen. House said he is extremely frustrated the Wrightsville Beach vandal has thwarted their efforts thus far.
“We’re pretty sure it’s just somebody out here at the beach that thinks it’s funny,” he said. “We’d love for someone to come forward and give us some information because somebody knows who is doing this for sure.”
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