Simi Valley Police Department – Incident Press Release
UPDATE:
On Tuesday, February 16, 2021, School Resource Officer Gene Colato took over the investigation. During his investigation, he determined that five, racially diverse juveniles under the age of 14 were present when the graffiti was spray painted on the wall. Only one of the juvenile subjects was responsible for spray-painting the graffiti on the wall. Officer Colato has completed his investigation and is submitting the case to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Juvenile Unit for adjudication. The Police Department is requesting that the juvenile who was responsible for spray-painting the graffiti be required to participate in a Cultural Awareness Program. We also recommend that the parents of the other juveniles that were present during incident receive similar education.
The juveniles involved in the incident are Simi Valley residents and their names cannot be released due to their ages. It is our hope that they learn from the incident and grow up to be productive members of our community.
The Simi Valley Police Department condemns racism, racist actions, and hate speech and will seek criminal prosecution on individuals who commit criminal offenses.
On Friday, February 12, 2021, Simi Valley Police Officers responded to a report of Vandalism/Graffiti on the flood control wall near White Oak Elementary School. Upon further investigation, the investigating officer determined that unknown suspect(s) spray painted a picture of a stick figure hanging on a rope with a coded message indicating that the person on the rope was of African-American heritage.
A Vandalism Report was taken and it included the details indicating that the spray-painted graffiti legally met the criteria of a Hate Incident. The graffiti was removed by Simi Valley Public Works personnel on Monday, February 15, 2021.
The Simi Valley Police Department is conducting further investigation on the graffiti incident. Anyone who has any information regarding the suspect(s) should contact Officer Gene Colato at (805) 583-6950.
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