Graffiti writers have left a vivid trail and told their spellbinding tales the world over in countless books and magazines, films and videos, websites and events. They have shared stories of war and glory, of battles and triumphs, and have the pictures to prove it. But many have gone down for those ups; they’ve been caught in action or hunted as criminals, and brought forth to answer for crimes of vandalism. They’ve copped pleas or pleaded guilty outright; they’ve been sentenced to do community service, to pay fines, and sometimes even to serve jail time—yet more often than not they got right back in action. No one knew this better than the New York City Transit Police Vandal Squad.

Founded in 1980, the Vandal Squad’s mission was to protect the subway system from hardcore criminal acts of destruction like kicking out windows and throwing seats out of train cars. It was only with the Clean Car Program of 1984 that graffiti became the primary focus of this specialized Unit. On a mission to catch those who gained fame under tag names, the Vandal Squad had to identify and locate these individuals cloaked in anonymity (and often so transient they were referred as “ghosts”) using every means available, including the NYPD computer database, Search Warrants, subpoenas, and even vandals themselves.

In Vandal Squad: Inside the New York City Transit Police Department, 1984–2004, former member Officer Joseph Rivera recounts the days and nights spent in pursuit of some of New York City’s most notorious vandals. The only book on graffiti told from the perspective of law enforcement, Vandal Squad takes us inside the New York Police Department. Rivera’s fast-paced tales of cat and mouse are presented alongside professional disregard within the Department. Featuring never-before-seen photographs and stories of graffiti’s infamous Top 40, Vandal Squad offers an unprecedented look at the graffiti world from the other side of the game.

Joseph Rivera was born and raised in the Bronx. He joined the New York City Transit Police Department in 1984, and was assigned to the elite Transit Vandal Squad in 1987. Rivera became the lead investigator of the Graffiti Habitual Offender Suppression Team (G.H.O.S.T.) within the Vandal Squad in 1998. The recipient of many commendations for outstanding merit throughout a 20-year law enforcement career, Rivera retired in 2004.

Former Vandal Squad Officer Joseph Rivera remembers his early days on the force in this excerpt from his upcoming autobiography, set for December release...

District 12 Command was located at the entrance to the East 180th Street/Morris Park Station, which was landmarked so that no construction could ever be done to update the building’s façade. By the time I got there in 1986, the Command had moved into a bigger space on one of the dead platforms. There was a little District upstairs with one holding cell that was once a closet—they took the door off its hinges and put on a gate in its place. I'll never forget the first time I went up there. “You've got to be kidding me! This is a prison?” I looked at the cell wondering, “What happens if you get two prisoners? You can't even fit one in there!”

The Vandal Squad was given a small office on the mezzanine and nobody was allowed down there. The Inspector in charge told everyone, "I don't want to see any uniformed cops in that office." It was supposed to be top secret. They didn’t want the kids to know where the Vandal Squad office was located, but everyone knew. Guys like PJAY and COPE would visit us all the time. They would kick the door and yell, "WHAT’S UP VANDALS!” They loved to break our balls!

By then I had made a few arrests for graffiti. One time I was off-duty riding the number 6 train uptown with another cop on our way home. We spotted a kid tagging further down in the train car. My friend was looking at me like, "What do you want to do with that?"

“Don't say nothing,” I indicated. “Just go to sleep, man. I'm tired."  

Although I was doing my best to ignore the vandal, he did not return the favor. Instead he leaned over me and started tagging right over my head with one of those homemade markers. I sat there for a moment in shock, thinking, "You don’t know who I am? I'm Joe the Cop."

I got up, cuffed the kid, and called the Precinct to tell them I had an off-duty arrest. They sent a car to pick us up. Back at the station house, I remember a Sergeant from the Vandal Squad came upstairs and asked, "What are you guys doing? What have you got, an arrest? For what? Graffiti? Hey, off-duty, that's pretty good!"

He remembered me for that; he also remembered that I played softball and that I was pretty decent. Softball was a very big part of the Department. District 12 used to play the Vandal Squad regularly; it was very competitive. There was a team called Headquarters and they used to recruit right out the Academy. If you were a great ball player, you were on their team! I used to hate playing them.

In 1987, about a year after I joined District 12, the Vandal Squad Sergeant asked me if I wanted to join the Unit. I was unsure at the time. Just a month earlier, while chasing a robbery suspect, I fractured my ankle. I had been assigned to cover one of the busiest stations in the District 12 area, the E. 149th Street and Third Avenue Station on the number 2 line. I was standing at the bus transfer box, checking everyone's tickets when I heard a woman scream for help. I ran to the top of the underpass stairs and observed a woman being robbed. Just as I began my descent, I stumbled, fell down a flight of stairs, and fractured my ankle.

Since I couldn’t give chase, I called in the robbery and a description over the Police radio and then asked for an ambulance. When the EMT arrived, they put me in the ambulance on a stretcher facing the wrong way! Not a good sign of things to come. I specifically requested that I be taken to Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx. Instead, they drove me to Lincoln Hospital better known at that time as the “Perp Hospital.” As they wheeled me towards the packed emergency room, the EMT attendants tried to force the stretcher over a bump on the floor. That didn’t work out so well. Instead of gliding over the bump, the stretcher bounced in the air, throwing me head first (in full uniform) into the emergency room. I landed on the floor; there was total silence. Then everyone broke out laughing like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

So there I was a month later on crutches with the Vandal Squad Sergeant telling me, "I've got to know if you want to join by next week at the latest."

I had to think about that. District 12 was taking good care of me. I had just got a steady seat driving a patrol car—a real big thing back then. Getting assigned to a squad car was one of the few perks offered to an active officer. I was very comfortable where I was and it was a big step to start over somewhere else. But it was plainclothes and not having to dress in a uniform every day was a plus for me. 

I decided to accept his offer. I went to the doctor and asked him to cut off the cast. Then I went back to the Sergeant and told him, "Yeah, I'm coming to Vandals. Draft me right in."

Miss Rosen Editions, a division of powerHouse Cultural Entertainment, spotlights contemporary urban culture with titles including Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985–2005, We B*Girlz by Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer, Pees on Earth by Ellen Jong, Bombshell: The Life and Crimes of Claw Money, It’s All Good by Boogie, Bears by Kent Rogowski, Hamburger Eyes: Inside Burgerworld by Ray Potes, New York State of Mind by Martha Cooper, Do Not Give Way to Evil: Photographs of the South Bronx, 1979–1987 by Lisa Kahane, Belgrade Belongs to Me by Boogie, We Are Experienced by Danielle Levitt, Vandal Squad: Inside the New York Transit Police Department 1984–2004 by Joseph Rivera, It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, the First Latino Hip-Hop DJ by Ivan Sanchez and Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeno, Pillage by Brantly Martin, and FUN! The True Story of Patti Astor. Publisher Sara Rosen, Associate Publisher and Senior Vice President of Marketing & Publicity of powerHouse Books and editor of powerHouse Magazine since 2006, also curates exhibitions at The powerHouse Arena.