Starting Sunday, all Indiana landowners will have a new way to mark property for no trespassing — with purple paint.
Owners of private property will now be able to exchange damaged or stolen “No Trespassing” signs for a line of purple paint with the Purple Paint Law. This is according to the House Enrolled Act 1233 which will allow Hoosiers to mark their property and prohibit trespassing by marking vertical purple paint lines on trees and/or fence posts posts.
“There are a few other states that do this,” Daviess County Chief Deputy Gary Allison said. “I think we are the sixth state that has enacted it.”
The idea is to have a quick and easy fix for residents besides putting up the normal “No Trespassing” signs. There are requirements to how the purple line must be placed though.
“Apparently, if you paint a purple line on a tree, that is the same as saying no trespassing,” Allison said. “So you no longer have to have no trespassing signs signs up. It has to be visible and a purple line.”
The law says that any purple mark must be a vertical line of at least 8 inches in length. For trees, the bottom of the mark needs to be at least 3 feet but not more than 5 feet from the ground. Marked trees may not be more than 100 feet from the nearest other marked tree.
Purple marks can also be on any fence post as long as the mark covers at least the top 2 inches of the post. For fence posts, the bottom of the mark needs to be at least 3 feet but not more than 5 feet and 6 inches from the ground. A marked post cannot be more than 36 feet from the nearest other marked post.
“Instead of putting up a sign, which can get ripped down, shot or destroyed in some other way, they think that by painting a purple line everybody will understand,” Allison said.