ANti-graffiti campaign making its mark

NEWS

The city’s anti-graffiti campaign is working, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says, pointing to 80 graffiti vandals having been caught and charged with 6400 offences since he created Brisbane’s first dedicated graffiti taskforce two years ago.

The Lord Mayor’s Taskforce Against Graffiti (TAG) is a full-time team of police and council officers who gather evidence against graffiti vandals, track them down and arrest them. Cr Newman said that since TAG’s creation in October 2008 the taskforce had led to 182 graffiti offenders being arrested on 6391 graffiti-related charges, including the recent arrest of a “major player” in Brisbane's illegal graffiti scene for 550 offences.
Cr Newman said TAG had been a major success since its inception and council would continue to support them in their quest to rid Brisbane's suburbs of illegal graffiti once and for all.
“The graffiti taskforce has been so successful because they’re working one step ahead of these vandals and catching them before they have a chance to strike again,” Cr Newman said.
“I’m also committed to removing this unsightly vandalism from our streets quickly and have tripled the number of council’s graffiti clean up crews from four to 12 since in the last six years.
“Our approach is based on the visionary broken window theory, which says that if a broken window is not fixed quickly it sends a message that it’s OK to smash other windows in the area.”
Cr Newman said Brisbane residents also had a part to play and encouraged them to report any graffiti on council land by calling 3403 8888.