Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

From MPD:

On Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at approximately 12:49 am, a Third District midnight officer was patrolling the alley in the 700 block of Irving Street, NW. The officer observed a suspicious person in the alley and proceeded to investigate further. Upon observing the officer, the person ran from the officer but was stopped in the next block. The person was caught in possession of a bag containing items commonly used to deface public and private properties. During investigation, police discovered that suspect had made graffiti marks on privately owned buildings. Police arrested the adult suspect and charged him with Destroying/Defacing Private Property.

This arrest is significant in that business owners and residents had recently reported a number of “tagging” incidents in and around the Pleasant Plains and Parkview neighborhoods and we trust that this investigation will help reduce graffiti in our communities.