Recently my newly installed fence was vandalized overnight by “taggers.”
I filed a police report using the ValleyCom website for the Federal Way Police Department.
The day after filing my report online, I came home from work to find a notice from the city of Federal Way telling me that I was “in violation of city ordinances” for “allowing graffiti” on my residential property.
The note went on to say that I would be fined if the offending graffiti was not removed within five days, and that the city would remove it for me, at no cost, if I needed them too.
I was mightily offended by the wording of this “citation,” since I had reported the incident myself, and had already purchased supplies to remove the spray paint from my cedar fence.
It was bad enough to be vandalized, but to come home to find a notice like that on my front porch, after a long day at work — well, I was “hot.”
I changed into my work clothes and set out to do my best to remove spray paint from the stained cedar fence. Soon into the project, I spotted a police cruiser driving by and waved. Out stepped Deputy Police Chief Andy Hwang and Lt. Casey Jones.
We chatted about the incident, and the fact that multiple other homes in my neighborhood had been vandalized at the same time as mine. I told him I was put off by the notice I had received, and he was sympathetic.
Then he asked me to step aside and hand him the tools I was about to use. He and the other officer quickly dispatched the offending graffiti using more “elbow grease” than I could have mustered alone.
I thought this picture was worth a thousand words. You can imagine my gratitude.
What great public servants we have. Federal Way should be proud of our men and women in blue, under the leadership of Deputy Chief Andy Hwang and Lt. Casey Jones.
Nancy Tabor, Federal Way