About

Mission:

Operation Clean Sweep: Education & Development (OCS Ed. & Dev.) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) in good standing, which specializes in eliminating graffiti.

Before Operation Clean Sweep: Education & Development was formed, if someone had a graffiti problem, they would call the police department.  The police would spend time occupied on the phone, the use of a police officer and patrol car to fill out reports, instead of dealing with higher priority crimes.  Unfortunately not much could be done by the police department as the perpetrator would need to be caught in the “act.”  Ultimately, the graffiti usually stayed on the building. 

Since inception, OCS Ed. & Dev. saved the New Orleans Police Department over 4,000 phone calls by creating the Graffiti Hotline.  Operation Clean Sweep’s goal is to  eliminate the graffiti within seven days of the call. 

Its mission is to eliminate graffiti in New Orleans and the metro area for a better quality of life. 

Organization:

The corporation was formed in 1997 when the President and Founder, Fred Radtke, traveled from his Lakeview office to downtown.  Passing graffiti everyday (about 50 yards long, on the cemetery walls) at Canal Street and Metairie Road. 

After several weeks, it started to become depressing, so Mr. Radtke contacted City Hall, whom related to him that there was not a department that handled graffiti removal and referred him to the New Orleans Police Department.  As mentioned in the mission statement, the police could not do anything really, except fill out reports. 

Mr. Radtke then invested $20,000 of his own money to get the corporation established. 

The need for the project in the community:

Over the past two decades, graffiti has become a growing problem for many cities in the United States.  In recent years, graffiti-writing has spread to neighborhoods in rural and suburban areas.  In a study by Dayton University (1995), they estimated the national cost of graffiti removal to be approximately $7 billion with an estimated increase of 15% each year. 

When discussing the consequences of graffiti vandalism, social scientists and economic advisors often refer to the “The Broken Window Theory, (Glazer, 1979).”  They draw a connection between the occurrence of graffiti and perceived diminished quality of services.  Such perceptions have numerous negative consequences on communities. 

The unconscious connection between graffiti and more serious crimes causes property values to decline, stymies business growth and discourages tourism.  Graffiti vandalism also has an adverse impact on architecture.  Unable to overcome the problem and unwilling to waste money on repetitive removal efforts, authorities specify vandalism attracts other forms of crime and street delinquency to the area, slowly replacing the sense of ownership once common amongst residents with fear, anxiety and frustration. 

By responding within seven days to remove graffiti and maintaining removal for one year, prevents all of the above mentioned.  Also, it educates the awareness about graffiti, and reduces graffiti city-wide, provides a better quality of life for the citizens of New Orleans, and reduces crime.