Acid Graffiti trend now in Hawaii

[urbanguy]

Acid Graffiti trend now in Hawaii

Several storefront windows have been vandalized with acid

A mainland vandalism trend has reached Hawaii with more than a dozen businesses in Waikiki and Honolulu being "tagged" by graffiti artists who use hydrofluoric acid to burn their mark into plate-glass windows.

The damage left behind by "acid graffiti" is expensive to fix and sometimes involves replacing the damaged glass entirely, said one expert. Triton Restoration owner Maurice Crabbe said he has had about 18 repair jobs involving acid graffiti since April.

"I've done maybe eight stores at the Hilton," Crabbe said, "four at the Sheraton, two at the Hyatt and some others around town.

"I know it's hydrofluoric acid because its pretty popular on the East Coast where I've done some work."

Some of the acid-etched tags left behind include "ACE," "ACE MVP," and either "OZ" or "DZ," said Crabbe.

Honolulu police have been informed about the acid graffiti, and Crabbe said he might have talked to a possible suspect.

"I was getting my equipment ready to grind down the glass when this kid came up to me and started asking some specific questions about how I was going to take the graffiti off," he said. "Then he started questioning me why I was doing it and said, 'Hey, at least I'm giving you work to do.' And then he took off.

"I had $3,000 worth of equipment in my hands, so I wasn't about to leave it there to chase him. ... I'm working with police now, though."

Security officials for the Retail Merchants of Hawaii said they are concerned because the hydrofluoric acid being used is potentially dangerous. They said they are taking this more seriously than if it was just the traditional paint tagging.

"This acid etching costs much more to fix, and it's bad news if you get it on you," said Tim Haverly, chairman of security management for the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. "We've battled graffiti of the normal type for a long, long time ... but this is something entirely different."

Hydrofluoric acid is known to be one of the strongest inorganic acids and is used mainly for industrial purposes such as glass etching, metal cleaning and electronics manufacturing. Some cities that have experienced acid graffiti include New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

"It's the latest trend," Crabbe said. "The acid comes in a can and looks like foam, but you need a license to buy it, so I don't know how they're getting it."

[wolverine]

Maybe the tagger..err. etcher will stop this when he gets it on himself.

Where I go to college, workers were using cans and containers of that stuff in my organization's building to put the different names of the offices on the glass doors. The people spraying it over stencils were wearing masks and gloves, and would not let anyone walk near the work area. So this stuff has got to be pretty dangerous.

[urbanguy]

^Id imagine so there stupid to be messing with that crap for real, acid is just nasty stuff i have to work with that stuff for the job i do, some of the testing i do requires the use of acid and just the thought of it makes me cringe hehe but although when i worked in the semi-conductor industry there were way worse chemicals but it was always behind something so i never had to come in contact with it and later when i moved to engineering well things were nice in a cubicle haha

[Wendell FOX]

It's vandalism, pure and simple, and the usage of a dangerous substance to do it is as "funny" as putting a nail on someone's chair. Well OK, I don't think most people would start touching the graffiti out of the blue but still whoever done this has clearly crossed the line as far as graffiti just being 'art' is concerned (not like normal graffiti done for vandalism is legitimate to start with...)

[urbanguy]

^Yeah its straight up wrong and can really hurt businesses especially because you cant just paint over it or scrub it off