Graffiti removal begins with a coordinated reading of the city. The two actors that submit their perceptions of these illegal inscriptions are the general public and a government agency by the name of SCOUT.


SCOUT officers trace and tag the city in vehicles like these

SCOUT is New York City’s “Street Conditions Observation Unit”, part of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit. SCOUT supports the City’s 311 system by inspecting the condition of every city street about once a month. According to their website, SCOUT "works to improve the quality of life in city neighborhoods and make city government more responsive to conditions that can negatively affect NYC residents. SCOUT inspectors drive every city street at least once per month in search of problems like missing traffic signs, graffiti on buildings, and other visually-identifiable street conditions."

The time and location of their perception of visually unacceptable street conditions are registered on site at the location of the perception. SCOUT reports its reading of the street to a 311 database via GPS loaded Blackberry smartphones on AT&T’s infrastructure.

Reading requires legibility. Yet, SCOUT is reading the city for the illegible inscriptions that have slipped, to borrow from de Certeau, "into the clear text of the planned and readable city." [de Certeau, 93] As Frans Tonkiss notes, de Certeau would be reluctant to consider graffiti an illegibile practice, because it is too visible. [Tonkiss, 102] Reading space for graffiti removal would appear to be an invisible activity, but it is not. Reading is intended to effect material change. The reading informs a database which is used to track and dispatch the removal of graffiti.