Regardless of any artistic value these letters, symbols, and imagery have, the fact remains that vandalism, considered criminal mischief in Montana, is a crime. What needs to happen is some sort of middle ground where artists can fine tune their skills in a legal manner.

Sgt. Bryan Slavik with the Great Falls Police Department explains, “when people deface or place any type of item on somebody else’s property that doesn’t belong to them without the owner’s permission, it’s considered vandalism whether its graffiti, whether its art, whether it’s destroyed”.

However, many teenagers see their acts of graffiti vandalism as an art form, not a crime. They use public and private property because they don't have their own venue to practice their craft. Unfortunately, this art hurts business. Slavik explains in an arrest last week for a string of vandalism over a period of time since last fall, “we had 50 businesses that were defaced with spray paint in the name of art that cost over $10,000”.

Graffiti has a bad reputation and some find it offensive. Due to this fact, Great Falls businesses are required by city ordinance to remove or cover the vandalism within 72 hours or they can be fined. Local artist, Rachel Kaiser, says, “young artists come and do something illegal on a building and maybe it’s fun for them in the moment, but they can get in big trouble and it hurts the business and more than that it hurts the whole cause of being able to do it legally for everybody”.

Many local artists do not approve of illegal vandalism, but respect graffiti as part of the genre of Street Art. Kaiser says, “spray paint art and Street Art isn't any different. If it’s legal and you're allowed to do it and you have the time to really develop a piece and make it quality versus doing it in the middle of the night and looking over your shoulder and running when the cops come and its half done. If they have the time to really do it and it’s legal, it’s not any less beautiful than what’s already being done here”.

Yet others see art being used as an excuse to get the thrill of doing something illegal. Slavik says, “I think people realize that what they're doing is wrong and they might tell you that what they think it’s art and they want people to see it but if that’s the case then why don’t they just do it in broad daylight and get people's permission to do it”.

The city has been offering opportunities recently for local artists to beautify downtown. Projects like the mural painting at the Rocky Mountain Building and painting the traffic signal boxes are prime examples. However, these projects are mostly for established artists naturally because they require a certain level of professionalism. This leaves inexperienced teens without a place of their own.

Slavik says, “it’s important that people find their own stage, their own way of demonstrating their art so people who want to look at it can and people who don't want to see it don’t have to see it”. Both sides to the debate seem to agree that kids need a canvas of their own to express themselves legally. While that might help those that do it for art, the question remains if that will curtail those that do it for shock value. We'll explore more about the fine line between illegal graffiti and art as well as some possible solutions in the works tomorrow on KFBB.