NEW YORK:

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The fact that undercover DT’s are on the prowl for people putting
up stickers is testament to how much New York has changed in recent years. As
recently as the Dinkins administration it was still pretty much ok to drink
beers on the street (brown bagged) and of course engage in quality of life
offenses like graffiti, hopping turnstiles, public unrination, etc. There was an
understanding that the police had much more important things to do.. Then came
Giuliani time and the “broken window” theory. While it did reduce crime, it
certainly came at a cost.. New York isnt the city it once was, ask anyone who
has been around awhile. Something is missing. Long story short: Back when the
Bowery was New York’s official skid row, 3 of us were engaging is some old
fashioned aerosol graffiti. A police van rolled up and guns were drawn. Of
course we all ran anyway. I got away while my two accomplices didnt get very
far. They were taken to the station house where they were forced to do a series
of excerices (in full winter gear) until vomit was induced. Of course they got
slapped around a little and ridiculed by every cop on duty that night. At the
end of the night they were let go like not a thing happened. To us that fit the
crime perfectly.
-Name Witheld

“My adventure
happend about 10 years ago In Manhattahn , I could remeber it like it was
yesterday , Considering a Cabby (undercover Po Po) almost Ran me over . . . .
Being that I lived in Jersey, NY was the place to Be, Smoking Blunts and
Drinking 40’s, Hanging out with a few friends, Somewhere in the area of St.
Marks Place, Had a Few Cans of Paint, And Being that we were just starting to
write, We were just Messing around, tagging up This Block, I Think I was writing
Slap or something like that, pretty Blazed of the Dirt Blunts, and a little
tipsy off the 40’s (That Even if I had a Lifetime supply of 40’s I wouldn’t
Drink em Nowadays) and a cabby rolls up to us and Tells, ME out of all my
Friends to come over to him. Myself Just being put on probation 2 weeks prior to
that night in New Jersey for a Little Medical Marijuana offense, thought about
it For a Sec, and Was Like I don’t know who that is in that Cab, Fuck that!! I
Grabbed My skateboard and jetted Mach 10 through the streets of NY, Being that i
was a little tipsy, that didn’t help my skating skills, after Jetting across
Broadway, I look back and see This Cabby Chasing me Still Then He started
flashing a badge, And My Speed on the skateboard Increased, Because I realized
This Guy was Goon F- Me Up If he caught up to me, Think i jetted down spring
Street By tower records which was One Way, Thought i was safe till, This crazy
PO PO in the cab Pulled up on the sidewalk and continued trying to catch me,
eventually i looped a big circle and tried getting back to where our car was
parked by ST. Marks PL, as soon as I was Crossing Broadway again on My skate
Board, This CABBY from Hell Comes out of nowhere Right towards me, So My Life
flash for a second, Next thing you know I’m rolling on the sidewalk, Off My
Board, PO PO Hit the back of my skateboarding the cab, I went flying, Got Up
Started running, Towards the car, which wasn’t far, I saw my friends chilling by
the Car, Got To The Car, and 7 undercover roll up and throw me up against the
wall like i just shot somebody, Then i started thinking bout the 5 nickel bags
of dirt I Had in pocket, Too Late to dispose of them now, I was Fucked i
thought, These guys Shoved me in the cab,WITHOUT EVEN SEARCHING ME , They Were
Pissed, And drove around the block and threatened me For about a half hr, Saying
they were goon throw me in the Hudson River and Nobody was ever gona find me,
Telling me about Central Booking and all that Good stuff, Me being a youngen
back then Only Knew what central booking Was Through Mobb Deep Songs, I was
telling them i was sorry for running, But they weren’t hearing it, Asking Me
Questions, Telling Me I could run from Jersey Cops, But Not NY Cops, Turns out
The Block we were hitting up that night was Right in The Middle of Some Heroin
Ring they were watching, The Cabby had a Cop on the roof with night vision
Binoculars telling him which way i was going thas how he kept finding me . . . .
So After threating to throw my punk ass in The Hudson River, They Decided to
Call my Parents To Find out who i was, cause I had No ID on me, Being from
Jersey We Got used to the fake name game in NY, As they were talking on The
Phone With me parents, That NASTY 40 that i drank and Those dirt Blunts that i
was smoking BACK THEN decided to Come out, ALL over the side walk, I Guess they
thought it was pretty funny telling my parents there son was puking his guts out
all over the side walk, Then They explained to me they never wanted to see me in
N Y again, and Gave me a Court date and THE END - Mr.Nice-AKA-I.S.
SO
technically I Never ended up in CB that night , But Feb 05 , drving in N.Y>
Smoking one of MEDICAL MARIJUANA Cigerettes taking photos of Street Art , My
Central Booking Dream Came True . . . . . . 30 Hrs in The Dungeon!!! IT
SUCKED!!!!

BELGIUM:

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“Just a story to break the rule; How I was NOT taken into prison.
One night I was out on the streets doing paste-ups in A3 size with my
girlfriend. I had the great idea to put one up on a bridge above the highway.
While on our way over there, on the same bridge I pasted one up on a traffic
sign, moved on to the middle of the bridge and lied down to get the thing in
place. Some cars pass by while I’m trying to get the poster in place, as
suddenly a van stops behind us. As I look, I see it’s a police car, and the
officer opens his window. ‘so, what are you doing?’ he asks. ‘Putting up some
posters for a party or something?’ (something that’s forbidden in belgium if
done out of the permitted area). I reply, while showing him the desing (and
while trembling in fear) ‘No, just a bit of artwork’.

‘Oh’ he sez,
‘you can’t do that on a bridge. Nice design though’. And off they go. If they
would have looked better on their way out, they’d have noticed the pasteup on
the roadsign… And I would definitely have been fined. Sometimes, the police IS
your friend:) Greetz,
S-o-o-l”

/>CALIFORNIA:

My roommate and I were
visiting some family in La Quinta, CA from San Diego about 5 months ago. On the
drive up we had seen a massive train stopped right off the side of the freeway.
I had brought a good amount of cans just for this very reason and said that we
should go to the yard around midnight. We hung out with the family and then got
in the car to head for the spot. We exited near the frieght train and parked in
a Costco parking lot. I’m pretty sure that was the only reason we got caught.
Because some security guard with no life saw us walk from the car to the train
lay up.

We walked down to the tracks and we both were in awe over the
spot. Just miles of frieghts on one track. The spot we were at was under a major
overpass, but still felt fairly remote and safe to paint in even though I wasn’t
familiar with the area. We started painting a train each and the desert wind had
picked up really bad. It was blowing the paint sideways out of the tips and I
couldn’t even really finish my fill in for my throw up. I turned back to my
buddy and shouted that “We should just bail because of the wind.” At the very
same moment a light dropped out of the sky. It was a helicopter search light. I
wasn’t really scared because I thought that there was no way they would even
flatter us with a helicopter. Not in this little desert town. The light searched
right for me,but again in my head I thought that there was some kind of freeway
chase or some kind of real criminal activity heading are way and we just
happened to be painting near the freeway where they were looking for the
“suspects.” I immeadiatley looked over at my friend and before we could really
think about what the whole thing was about we heard a voice from a about a
hundred yards away and we both saw a glow of light bouncing in the distance. It
then hit us that the helicopter wasn’t a coincidence at all and that mean’t that
they knew exactly where we were. Now I’ve watched cops shows plenty of times and
we all can agree that once the helicopter comes into play you’re screwed.
/>
But this wasn’t the first time I would be running from the police and I
was game for a chase and I didn’t have to communicate this to my cohort. When
you go bombing, remember that there is no one “rootin” for you. You are the
enemy to everyone except for a small sub-group of people and fame doesn’t mean
shit to cops. So we ran like we always do. We ran like prisoners running from a
hit squad: no room for thinking just keep running, don’t stop, don’t look back.
We ran up the steep incline to get on top of the freeway. (A side note of
adivice for all aspiring vandals) When running near a freeway always run towards
the chaos. Cops do not get paid enough money to chase kids in speeding traffic
and that tactic had worked for me personally before. Not this time. As we
started getting up the hill that copter was on us bad. The light was on us and
the megaphone was blaring out orders and threats. We kept going, cause you’re
not supposed to stop, you don’t quit running. But as we
got onto the
freeway the light just kept on us so bad that we just stopped and started
talking over our options. We smoked the cops on foot, but this copter wasn’t
going nowhere and we were literally out of all options. So we stopped. I had
been bombing steady for about a year and a half and I knew this was it. My first
time getting caught. Now I could tell you a lot about how dick they were and
what went on afterwards but I’ll be short. We basically convinced them that we
were “art nerds” and that we were doing “cartoons” on the trains for an “art
project.” We were cuffed and in the same car and I told my partner to use this
story and he sold them on it. They said if we co-operated we would just get a
ticket. We did and they took pictures and took the paint and all our info. We
only were charged with misdemeanor and ended up getting a fine of $475 dollars
and 30 hours of community service. We definetly are just going to photoshop some
very “official” looking documents stating that we both finished off our 30 hours
of folding boxes or played hide and seek with retarded children. We haven’t
decided how heroic our “service” will be. My rommate refuses to paint illegally
and I still bomb quite often although I must say that it was hard to paint again
after that incident for quite some time.

by Smash and
Grab