Graffiti in Seattle

In 2023, a federal judge temporarily stopped Seattle police from making graffiti-related arrests.^[1][2][3] The ruling was appealed by a city attorney.^[4][5]

According to Crosscut.com, reports of graffiti filed by the public increased by more than 50 percent between 2019 and 2021. City agencies removed 5,000 and 8,700 tags in 2019 and 2021, respectively.^[6] In 2023, Gary Horcher of KIRO-TV said there were approximately 20,000 reports of graffiti in 2021 and wrote, "Seattle has been covered in more graffiti, and more graffiti is being covered up — at a higher cost to taxpayers — than ever before."^[7] Graffiti is often seen along Interstate 5.^[8]