Scott Railsback is not a vigilante by nature. But the pragmatic vice president of Mure Corporation, a property development and management firm in Whittier, CA (12 miles east of Los Angeles), admits that after spending countless hours and thousands of dollars removing graffiti from the buildings managed by his company, he was at the end of his rope; that was until he decided to take the matter into his own hands.

“My father, brother and I were discussing non-injurious ways to deter taggers and we figured that getting wet at 3 a.m. in the cold would not be a pleasant experience,” Railsback said. He added that cameras, lights, and anti-graffiti paint were ineffective and his company was spending $100 to $200 to clean up after each incidence.

With his brother and father, Railsback developed a unique graffiti deterrent using the ScareCrow motion-activated sprinkler by Contech Electronics. Since implementing the system nine months ago, his company’s buildings--which were previously vandalized at least twice a week--have only been hit three times.

Railsback installed the first system in August 2007. He said the building was tagged the second night after the installation but the vandal did not get the job done.

“It was a partial tag—only a few letters,” Railsback said. “The ground was wet from the system being triggered. We laughed long and hard thinking about the tagger getting soaked without knowing where it came from.” Railsback added that he plans to install ScareCrows at all his company’s graffiti problem areas.

Railsback mounted the ScareCrows--which have been used by gardeners as an animal deterrent for 12 years—15 feet high on the buildings, spaced approximately 20 feet apart. He plumbed them into the internal water supply for each building and pointed them straight down.

“We had hoped that the sprinklers would slow taggers down,” Railsback said. “The results were nothing short of amazing. I have shared our story with leasing and rental associations in our area, other property managers, and our local police department.”

“It is certainly one of the most unique applications we’ve heard for the ScareCrow,” said Mark Grambart, CEO for Victoria, BC-based, Contech Electronics. “It has been used successfully by gardeners to repel deer, by boaters to keep sea lions off boats, and by homeowners to keep herons out of koi ponds, but an anti-graffiti device could have very positive implications for property owners and anti-graffiti programs.”

Established in 1987, Contech Electronics is a designer and provider of advanced animal training, control and wellness products for pet owners and gardeners around the world. Safe and effective solutions such as the ScareCrow® motion-activated sprinkler and the WaterDog® automatic outdoor pet drinking fountain continue to reinforce the company’s reputation as a leading innovator in the pet and garden industries.