By Chauncey Bailey,
Globe Newspapers

   AC Transit, hoping to re-channel the $2 million a year it spends to fight vandalism on buses, started a new crackdown on Halloween.
   
Clarence Johnson, a spokesman for AC Transit, said that since September alone, the mass transit system has spent $1.2 million on vandalism-related costs. There have been 1,762 damaged windows, 840 seat repairs, 858 door repairs and other costs, he said. It costs $6,000 in parts to retrofit a badly damaged bus.
    AC Transit General Manager Rick Fernandez said “this is a county-wide problem” involving gangs and bored kids. He said blighted buses discourages riders and degrades the buses. “The majority of our buses are vandalized, to some degree, every day,” he said. The agency does not want its drivers to do the in-your-face law enforcement work to prevent vandalism that can best be done by deputies.
    AC Transit has been forced to spend $900,000 on cameras on 86 buses to record vandals. However, the cameras do not always lead to convictions.
    Now, plain-clothes police officers will be deployed to ride buses and make arrests as part of the Taskforce Against Graffiti. The new effort is called “TAG, You’re It.”
    Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said vandals will be charged with a misdemeanor and face a $1,000 fine or up to one year in jail if damages are less than $400. Damages over $400 will be deemed felonies and can result in three years in state prison and a $10,000 fine, he said.
   “Minors will go to juvenile court, and parents will pay (fines),” he said. “It’s a shame what people are doing to buses,” said Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer. He encouraged riders who witness acts of vandalism to call and report them.
    The TAG hotline number for anonymous tips is (510) 667- 7721.