Graffiti halves in Whangarei

Tagging in Whangarei has halved, meaning D-Tag has less tags to tackle. PHOTO/FILE

An increase in early reports of tagging and greater community surveillance is leading Whangarei's young taggers to put down their spray cans, as the district's tagging has halved in a year.

In the 2015/2016 financial year, there were more than 16,000 tags removed, compared to more than 30,000 in 2014/2015, 31,000 in 2013/2014 and 31,000 the year before that.

Since July, there were just 8600 tags removed, meaning figures were tracking well for this year too.

Whangarei District Council's Community Services Manager, Owen Thomas, told the Advocate the sharp decline was down to community effort.

He praised the work of Te Ora Hou, which ran the D-Tag service tasked with cleaning up tagging throughout the district.

City Safe, Summer Safe and CCTV systems were also keeping close watch, resulting in the tagging not happening at all, or being removed early when it did occur.

He said taggers wanted fame and recognition but removing it quickly removed the value and purpose of the tag.

"We are finding that the most effective way to deal with tagging is to remove it quickly."

The lower incidents were also reflecting a change in society.

"Tagging is an indicator crime. Growing up is hard and young people can make bad decisions. Tagging is a bad decision - our young people are making better decisions," he said.

"Across the board, there is a committed effort to having a safer community."

Whangarei District Council spent $458,807 removing graffiti in the past three financial years to the end of June, 2016.

Over the same period the Far North District Council contractors spent about $42,329 removing 611 tags over three years, while in Kaipara 290 tagging incidents cost about $15,000.

Northland Regional Council's vandalism bill was small, as it only had to act when one of its four offices was targeted.