Graffiti vandals caught in act

Sharp-eyed rugby club members nabbed three graffiti vandals red-handed this week as Whangarei struggles with a tagging "epidemic".
The attack on the Marist Sports Club comes after a decision by the Whangarei District Council to put another $55,000 into its D'Tag graffiti removal programme to pay for another clean-up team to stem a rising tide of tagging in the district.
The Marist club in Park Ave has been hit repeatedly by taggers during the last 12 months, costing the club thousands to repair the damage and angering members.
So infuriated are they and keen to catch the vandals, members are contemplating night-time vigils. Security cameras are also being installed.
However, club stalwarts Rick Palmer and Richard Tolich had an unexpected catch on Monday. On their way to the club they spotted three youths on the building's balcony mixing paint and tagging the front wall about 3.15pm.
The two men grabbed the trio and held them until police arrived.
Just 24 hours earlier Mr Palmer had painted over graffiti that had appeared at the weekend covering much of the club's building. The clubrooms have been targeted about 20 times this year.
"It's absolutely gutting every time I see it back on the building.
"We are an amateur sports club and we don't need these hoons defacing these rooms," Mr Palmer said.
"We are trying to improve the clubrooms and make it a nice environment for the members. We don't need this crap."
Mr Tolich said he told the trio "in no uncertain terms" what he thought of their spray painting.
"We've had enough of it. There are some really frustrated members here because a lot of hard labour has gone into developing this complex.
"Graffiti gets people's hackles up," Mr Tolich said.
They believe two or more groups are involved in the tagging and it becomes a game with them painting over one another's tagging. The end result was a mess of ugly, unwanted scribble.
Three boys aged 14 to 16 have been charged with wilful damage and have been referred to the police Youth Aid section.
Northland Rugby Union operations manager Greg Shipton said graffiti was an epidemic in Whangarei. Sports clubs were often targeted.
"Whangarei is a nice area and we don't need this graffiti crap that's become an epidemic," he said.
Mr Shipton said he every week he was painting out tagging that included swear words on fences around Okara Park.
"It's not a good look when you've got people and kids turning up to watch a rugby game."
He called for the sale of paint to be restricted and for shop owners not to sell it to youths.
"It's not hard to work out what a bunch of 13 and 14-year-old kids are going to do with a heap of spray cans."
Graffiti was identified by Whangarei city retailers in a recent report as one of the most common crimes committed against them.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT GRAFITTI:
• Report tags to police straight away.Paint over them as soon as possible.
• If graffiti continues look at ways to prevent it like planting climbers on a bare wall.
• In the central city remove all access points to the roof such as ladders or wheelie bins