| 2 April 2008 |
| The West Aucklander |
| |
| Pricey
spray and wipe |
| Felt pen scribbles,
'bombing', vandalism and
tagging removal costs
are hitting council -
and Waitakere ratepayers
where it hurts. Helen
Laurent reports. |
| |
| An estimated 200 vandals
are largely responsible
for damage costing almost
$700,000 a year to remove. |
| |
| In Waitakere City,
the Tag Out Trust removes
an average of 25,000 tags
a month. Its removal budget
for 2007/2008 is $680,000
and the organisation has
grown from one person
to eight staff in the
past 11 years. |
| |
| Yet, despite the huge
number of tags being scribbled,
the trust says there are
only 200 consistent tagging
vandals in the west. So
how can so few create
such unsightly scrawl? |
| |
| "There is an awful
lot done with a felt-tip
pen by children who are
bored, and that stuff
is difficult and expensive
to remove," says Tag Out
Trust spokeswoman Iris
Donoghue who adds that
in-coming taggers are
another issue. "A lot
come from other areas.
They don't see Auckland
as having territorial
boundaries. They just
follow the transport lines."
|
| |
| Sergeant Grant Watson,
of New Lynn police, agrees.
"The whole thing with
taggers is fame and notoriety,
they want to get their
tags as many places as
possible and as visible
as possible. Our boundaries
don't apply to them." |
| |
| Sergeant Watson says
more people need to report
the vandalism to police.
"The figures provided
to us by the Tag Out Trust
show an increase in the
amount of tags they are
removing, but it's difficult
to say, as the reporting
of tagging is not consistent. |
| |
| "People don't always
report tagging. That's
why our figures don't
necessarily show what
they are finding. Police
still do want the public
to report tagging. If
we don't know about it,
and when and where it
is happening, we can't
do anything about it." |
| |
| |
| Tuesday, April 1, 2008 |
| Western Leader |
| |
| Raise
Tagging Fine to $5000
says Bob |
| Mayor Bob Harvey wants
the maximum fine for taggers
raised to $5,000.He also
wants their parents made
liable if their children
can't afford to pay. |
| |
| "If the defendant is
under 18 and can't pay
the fine or undertake
the community service
sentence, then the parents
or caregivers should be
held to account," he says. |
| |
| "This will be a strong
signal to send to the
community that a family
must work to change the
behaviour to their kids." |
| |
| Mr Harvey and Tag Out
Trust representative Iris
Donoghue outlined their
proposals at the select
committee hearing on the
Summary Offences (Tagging
and Graffiti Vandalism)
Amendment Bill held in
Manukau City this month. |
| |
| The bill is part of
a government plan, to
get tough on taggers.
The proposed legislation
would make it illegal
to sell spray cans to
anyone under 18 years
of age and there would
be an increase in fines
for those caught tagging
from $200 to $2,000. |
| |
| Taggers will also be
expected to remove graffiti
as part of their community
service - a move which
mimics the west Auckland-based
Tag Out Trust's work over
the last decade. |
| |
| Mr Harvey and Mrs Donoghue
also want to see a youth
reparation court established
to deal with young offenders
within 48 hours of them
being caught. |
| |
| The court would be
presided over by Justices
of the Peace who would
be able to impose instant
fines and make offenders
paint out graffiti. Repeat
offenders would be dealt
with through the normal
court system. |
| |
| |
| Saturday February 02,
2008 |
| Source: NZHerald |
| |
| Government
to attack graffiti artists
from all sides |
| The Government is about
to launch a new weapon
in the ongoing war against
graffiti - the Stop (Stop
Tagging Our Place) strategy. |
| |
| Police Minister Annette
King said Stop, which
will be announced in the
next fortnight, includes
legislative change, funding
for council and community
anti-graffiti programmes
and targeted enforcement
improvements. |
| |
| It is hoped the changes
will help eradicate what
has become a multi-million-dollar
headache. |
| |
| "We're going to have
a more clearly identified
offence of graffiti and
tagging, increased sentences
and enable community work
to be established as a
sentence," she said. |
| |
| The minister has firsthand
experience of tagging
having just painted out
a tag on the side of her
garage - for the second
time in six weeks. |
| |
| "We had a tagger go
through Hataitai on a
Saturday night and had
a great old time - they
even left one of their
spray cans in the gutter
outside my place because
they couldn't get the
lid off it." |
| |
| Ms King said she felt
angry at the violation
of her private property
and immediately painted
out the tag which she
described as a personal
autograph. |
| |
| "Any satisfaction the
tagger might have got
from having their name
plastered out on the street
was pretty quickly removed." |
| |
| While she understood
the level of frustration
about tagging, Ms King
said that was no justification
at all for murder or violence
- a reference to the 15-year-old
tagger who was killed
in Manurewa last Saturday
night. |
| |
| The full scale of the
tagging problem is largely
unknown. There is no central
agency which gathers statistics,
but in the worst hit cities
- Auckland and Manukau
- authorities spent almost
$3 million cleaning up
graffiti last year. |
| |
| That is likely to be
a fraction of the real
cost as it does not include
a host of targets including
private properties or
those owned by Transit
or rail authorities. |
| |
| Trusts have begun spreading
as local authorities work
with communities to stamp
out the problem. |
| |
| The Government is hoping
to get agreement to change
the stalled Manukau City
Council (Control of Graffiti)
private member's bill
into a government bill
that would apply nationwide. |
| |
| The Manukau bill has
been held up after advice
parts of it were in breach
of the Bill of Rights. |
| |
| A sticking point was
the banning of spray paint
cans to those under 18. |
| |
| Ms King said bans would
not be in the new bill,
but some restrictions
at the point of sale would
be put in place. |
| |
| New accountability initiatives
in the bill would include
increased use of restorative
justice. |
| |
| "I think some of the
most effective punishment
is when taggers have to
clean up their tags in
the full glare of the
public," said Ms King. |
| |
| A teenager dubbed one
of Auckland's worst graffiti
vandals has been arrested
after a year-long campaign
which left at least 100
tags around the city. |
| |
| The 16-year-old is allegedly
the force behind a catalogue
of spray paint and etching
tags which are conservatively
estimated to have cost
$10,000. He was arrested
on Thursday. He will appear
in the Youth Court this
month. |
| |
| "He is without doubt
one of the worst graffiti
vandals we have come across,"
said Auckland City Council
graffiti prevention officer
Rob Shields. |
| |
| It is alleged the youth
was caught red-handed
on CCTV tagging two windows
in the early hours of
Christmas Day. |
| |
| "We knew him and we
knew his tag, but we just
had to catch him in the
act," said Mr Shields. |
| |
| It is also alleged the
youth had graduated from
spray-painting to etching
his tag into glass windows.
|
| |
| -Stuart Dye |
| |
| Counting
Costs |
- Auckland and Manukau
Cities are the country's
worst-hit by tagging
and graffiti
|
- Between them they
spent almost $3 million
cleaning up graffiti
last year
|
- That is likely to
be a fraction of the
real cost as it does
not include a host
of targets including
private properties
or those owned by
Transit or rail authorities
|
- There is no central
agency which gathers
statistics on tagging
In Auckland City,
48,000 sites were
cleaned in one year,
costing $1.6 million.
191 people were arrested
|
- In Manukau, 317,000
tags were removed
last year, costing
$1.2 million
|
- Volunteers in Auckland
use 240 litres of
paint every month
|
- In Manukau, they
used a total of 25,760
litres of paint last
year
|
- In west Auckland,
from April last year
to date there were
182 arrests and 266
charges for graffiti
and wilful damage
|
- Each tag can cost
about $50 to clean
up
|
- A $3 spray paint
can cause up to $10,000
in damage
|
| Survey
Is graffiti a problem
in your area? Percentage
of people who said "yes"
in the most recent Quality
of Life Survey: |
| |
| Rodney
|
60% |
North
Shore |
56% |
| Waitakere
|
74% |
Auckland
|
82% |
| Manukau
|
82% |
Hamilton
|
66% |
| Tauranga
|
62% |
Porirua
|
77% |
| Hutt
|
56% |
Wellington
|
58% |
| Christchurch
|
72% |
Dunedin
|
59% |
|
| |
