SAN DIEGO -- Escondido police are hailing what they call the latest success story with their computer program called “graffiti tracker.” The system is a Web-based program that allows police to compile incidents of tagging, which allows them to hone in on where a particular tagger is working.

When a report of tagging comes in, a city crew is dispatched to the scene but before they clean it up, they take pictures with a special camera equipped with GPS. A special graffiti analyst then compares that tagging incident with other incidences and, combined with the GPS information, police can begin to track a tagger.

“When we catch that individual, we can charge him not only with that graffiti crime, but all the other ones as well,” Escondido police lieutenant Bob Benton said. “By looking at the locations we can essentially see where the suspect may live because what we’re finding is a lot of times suspects tag right around their homes. So, what we can do is they happen in a certain neighborhood and then we can start tracking to see who’s tagging in that neighborhood and try to track the individual that way,” Benton told 10 News.

Benton points to a case in Vista Superior Court Monday as a graffiti tracker success story. 19-year-old Isaiah Gastumel was arraigned on six felony and 146 misdemeanor counts of vandalism. Gastumel pleaded not guilty and will be back in court later next month to begin trial proceedings.

Before graffiti tracker was in place, court ordered restitution to Escondido businesses only amounted to about $22,000. But last year with graffiti tracker, that figure jumped to more than $185,000 and Lt. Benton said that is a real success story.