PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh police will soon have a new way to track graffiti in the city in hopes of catching those who paint it.

It's a computer database being worked on and as Target 11's Karen Welles found, it's the latest weapon against an age-old problem.

Is it art or vandalism? Just about every neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh has it, and most people who own the painted property wish it would just go away. But as Welles found out from a local graffiti artist, if there's a blank canvas, they'll find it.

Graffiti artist "Infekt" said, "The whole purpose of graffiti is to be seen and to stay up for as long as you can."

This local graffiti artist goes by the name Infekt. As a member of the graffiti group called The Core Krew, you can find some of his artwork on the wall along the Eliza Furnace Trail.

Infekt said, "Like we did this the other night."
Welles asked, "Do you consider what you do destroying property?"
Infekt said, "It depends on where I go. Like if I go on a corporate building then, yeah, then that's vandalism. But if I go like along a train like along railroad tracks along the wall down there I don't consider that vandalism."

And for taggers, as they're called, the element of danger is intoxicating.

"There's this old warehouse type building and I climbed up the back pipes then onto the roof and then dropped down onto the front awning and I spray painted on the front of the awning," Infekt said.
Welles said, "You like the rush."
Infekt said, "Yeah, and the adrenaline. It gets your adrenaline pumping."

Crime prevention Officer Ashley Thompson said, "We've heard things from sources where they're advertising Pittsburgh as a place to come to do graffiti because it's easy and maybe the police don't care."

Thompson hopes to change that reputation with recent arrests and a new graffiti database.

"I can go into the database search for that tag and pull up all the other incidents that we have of that tag and hopefully connect them to that person," Thompson said.

Alex Coyne, of Oakland Business Improvement District, said, "When we started in 1999, if you looked along these streets you'd see a lot more graffiti than you do now."

And police are working with community groups like OPID, which tells business owners the key to deterring graffiti is to remove it quickly. But that's costly.

Mike Artascos, of Pitt-Ohio Express, said, "You clean it. You get it the best you can and you go back a week later and they hit it again."

Several companies are pitching products that coat any surface, designed for quick graffiti removal. Target 11 put one to the test.

Dave Tatka said, "The paint starts to draw in on itself because there's nothing to adhere to it. Essentially what can be provided now is a graffiti-proof surface."

That may curtail spray painting, but as Target 11 wrapped up the interview with Infekt, he spontaneously and surprisingly started doing another kind of graffiti called pasting.

Infekt said, "The next spot's going to be like really tough because all the cars here on the parkway, they'll see me doing it. I, personally, wouldn't sit there and try to get it to stay. I'd just move along and try to find another spot where it would be seen."
Welles asked, "You'll always find another spot?"
Infekt said, "Yeah, there's always other spots."

The first meeting of a new anti-graffiti task force is scheduled for March 10 to find ways to attack the problem -- along with the computer tracking, options include tougher punishment, surveillance cameras and rewards for informants.

And keep in mind, because of Pittsburgh's budget crunch, the "graffiti busters" only remove graffiti from public places. If it's on private property, you're on your own. And if you don't remove it, you can be fined.