Honolulu police will consider a new approach for fighting graffiti — allowing it in a particular place to help keep it from appearing elsewhere — after that proposal gained support yesterday from a key City Council committee.

The council's Public Safety Committee endorsed a proposal by Councilman Charles Djou that the city consider a strategy used in Redmond, Wash., where a wall near a skate park was designated as a graffiti-legal zone.

Although the mayor, police and council members agree that graffiti is a problem in Honolulu, it is difficult to track in numbers because it is classified within a larger category of criminal property damage.

Honolulu police Capt. Ron Bode said he spoke with an officer in Redmond who was very positive about the graffiti wall there. Bode said "it drastically reduced their graffiti around town."

Bode said the people who used the graffiti wall as their palette also helped police discourage graffiti elsewhere after the wall went up. "They took ownership of the wall," Bode said.

However, Bode questioned whether one wall would satisfy the territorial aspects of graffiti or the element of painting in outrageous or difficult-to-reach areas or whether a wall would spark battles between different factions competing for space on the wall.

"Would it effectively reduce the amount of graffiti that we see in our community or would it just be another place for graffiti artists/offenders to put their work up?" Bode asked.

Bode questioned whether the concept would work in Honolulu, a much larger city. He said the nighttime population of Redmond is about 46,000, with nearly twice as many people there during the day. (The town serves as home to Microsoft Corp.)

But Bode also said the police would be happy to study the issue or try it as a pilot project. "It's worth a try," he said.

Djou said the city has tried numerous conventional methods for reducing graffiti without seeing much impact. He pointed to last year's approval of doubling the maximum fine from $1,000 to $2,000 as just one method.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann said he just heard about the graffiti wall proposal but knows that the urban markings present a problem across the island, the state and the nation.

Although he wasn't ready to endorse the wall proposal, he said creative solutions may be needed.

"Obviously what we have in place now is not enough," Hannemann said. "I'm open to all and any suggestions that people have in order to curb graffiti."

Public Safety Committee Chairman Gary Okino said he was willing to move forward with the wall idea but has his doubts. "That wall is not going to satisfy the need for graffiti," he said.

The committee postponed any action on a proposal to create a "bounty" or reward system for people who turn in those who create graffiti. Police said the proposal would duplicate the Crimestoppers program.

And Honolulu police said they will find out more about another proposal to use motion-sensor cameras on high-graffiti spots to help discourage graffiti.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.