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So They Meet Again: Vandals and Former Vandal Squad
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 20, 2009
Modified Mar 20, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 20, 2009
Modified Mar 20, 2009
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Photos by Jim Kiernan
Last night the former Vandal Squad cops met up at powerHouse Arena to face off with some of the former graffiti artists they busted back in the day. Did sparks and spraypaint cans fly? Not really. One attendee reports back, "As would be expected the cops stuck to their script (literally in the case of the author who clearly had the questions in advance and read his answers each time). According to the cops there, there have never been any incidents of police brutality against the graf artists, ever." Hmm, well that sounds...inaccurate.
One cop did show his true colors, however, when he declared: "You know what they say—if you're going to fish, go where the fish are. All of the fish are here tonight. I guarantee you someone in this room has an outstanding warrant." No arrests were made that we know of, but the cops were videotaping everyone who entered the event. Former tagger Ket also promised to videotape and share the discussion on his blog, but until that's up, check out some footage of the Vandal Squad from the Beat This documentary.
Tagged
artists
graffiti
powerHouse
street art
vandal squad
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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