Councils have their sights set on taggers

as posted here

3rd August 2009, 6:00 WST

Taggers beware — Big Brother is watching you.

In response to soaring incidents of graffiti and a clean-up bill running into the millions, fed-up local councils are targeting the taggers with increasingly sophisticated measures.

The City of Joondalup was by far the worst hit with graffiti last year, spending $988,128 on its removal, almost double that in 2007. In response, 14 cameras were installed in April at a cost of $393,681.

The City of Stirling spent $750,000 to remove 15,152 incidents of graffiti last year. About $110,000 from the Office of Crime Prevention has been spent on initiatives such as CCTV, anti-graffiti marketing and removal.

In the City of Belmont, 15,295 incidents of graffiti were reported, up from 9955 the previous year, at a clean-up cost of $212,779. Mayor Glenys Godfrey said the State Government had funded a CCTV system which could film in extremely low light from more than 200m away. Other systems being tested responded directly to events as they occurred, with no need for operators.

“When an event is triggered, (the software) will notify our Neighbourhood Watch security guards by SMS, email the last few minutes of footage to our security control room, while also allowing police and security to log directly into the triggered camera,” she said.

Removing graffiti in the City of Perth cost $381,869, including two graffiti removal vans and free removal service. A third van was expected to be operational by next month. A permanent network of CCTV cameras cost the city about $1.2 million a year.

Rockingham mayor Barry Sammels said $350,000 would be spent on fighting graffiti in the city in the coming year. “Graffiti is an eyesore,” he said. “No matter what neighbourhood you live in, you should not have to tolerate this urban blight.”

In the City of Fremantle, ratepayers footed a $130,000 clean-up bill, up from $95,000. Chief executive Graeme Mackenzie said a $240,000 network of 11 CCTV cameras installed in 2007 was already paying dividends, with 535 incidents of antisocial behaviour recorded, leading to 124 on-the-spot arrests.

Graffiti clean-up cost the Town of Vincent $145,000, $673,948.00 in the City of Swan, $270,000 in the City of Cockburn and $326,838 — an increase of 16 per cent — in the City of Wanneroo, which plans to install a new CCTV network.

The City of Gosnells plans to spend $305,204 on fighting graffiti this year. Volunteers have also “adopted” 52 bus shelters in the past five months, scrubbing out tags almost as soon as they appear.

The only localities which reported a downturn in incidents, including the cities of Nedlands, Subiaco and Melville, were those which commissioned urban art projects and gave young taggers a chance to practise their skills.

About 170 reports a week were made to the Office of Crime Prevention’s “goodbye graffiti” hotline and website in the past year, but just five rewards were handed out to those leading to a conviction.

The State Government’s revamped Graffiti Taskforce held its first forum in June, with a program aimed to make juvenile offenders accountable for their actions due to be piloted this year.

FLIP PRIOR


as posted here