THE WAR ON TAGGING - Northland leads the way ...

IT was an ugly wooden fence covered in graffiti - but now it's a catalyst for community pride.
Kids who once scrawled graffiti across the fence on Whangarei's Smeaton Drive are now painting it out and warning others to leave their fence alone.
Neighbours, armed with paint and brushes, are at the ready to wipe out unwanted tagging.
Smeaton Drive Community Group member Kim Anderson carries her paint kit in the boot of her car, alongside the spare tyre.
She said a community clean-up day last December had given the neighbourhood a sense of unity.
"Boy, it was an ugly fence, but it's brought the community together and brought out the goodness in people.
"We weren't naive enough to believe the fence wouldn't be tagged again. But now you no longer blink and the graffiti's gone - it's the community painting it out, and the kids in particular. There's no doubt painting that fence has been a positive move."
More than 100 volunteers turned out to paint the fence near SH1 at the southern entrance to the city.
The Community Action Day was spearheaded by The Northern Advocate and supported by Raumanga residents, the Whangarei District Council, Housing New Zealand, The Pulse, D'Tag, Bunnings, the police, Cowley's Hire and the Chamber of Commerce.
Ms Anderson applauded the Government's promise to spend $6 million over the next three years helping communities combat vandalism.
"You always get negative people saying `you can't do it and it won't work' but you just have to go ahead. How do you know if you don't try?"
The Action Day had turned a "whatever" attitude into one of ownership and pride, another step in a master plan that started with clearing away burnt-out car wrecks.
"Why can't Smeatons be the ultimate neighbourhood and a safe place for our kids? We can have it and we have to create it. The fence is another step in creating unity," Ms Anderson said..
Taggers were being made to feel like outsiders. Kids from Smeatons recognised the tags and told their mates to leave the fence alone.
Some who were responsible for tagging the fence in the past are now defending it. Ms Anderson's advice for other communities wanting to reduce graffiti was simple.
"Get alongside youth, talk to them, walk alongside them. Adopt a `do whatever it takes' attitude."
Yesterday Ms Anderson met council staff and graffiti artists to discuss a plan for youth to paint murals on the fence.
* Leaders applaud tough new laws NORTHLAND leaders are cheering a Government crackdown on the tagging epidemic which has swept the region.
Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a nationwide offensive on tagging yesterday, including tougher penalties, forcing offenders to clean up graffiti, banning the sale of spray paint to under-18s, and making retailers lock spray cans away.
Last December, Whangarei residents signalled they'd had a gutsful of graffiti when more than 100 volunteers turned out to a Community Action Day spearheaded by The Northern Advocate, painting over a graffiti-blighted fence near SH1 at the southern entrance to the city.
But the epidemic continues elsewhere in Northland - just this week 30 buildings, including a church, were tagged in Dargaville.
Whangarei mayor Stan Semenoff was delighted by the Government's plans.
"I'm particularly pleased that we're no longer going to slap these young thugs with a wet bus ticket when we do catch them.
"Their behaviour is criminal, they know it's criminal and we need to treat them like criminals and punish them."
The sooner the Government could enact legislation the better, as it would ease the workload of volunteers battling to keep their communities looking tidy.
He particularly commended people such as Kim Anderson, who leads the efforts to wipe out tagging along Smeaton Drive.
However, he said it was not fair to rely on volunteers to paint over tags, only to keep selling vandals an endless supply of spray paint.
Whangarei police area commander Inspector Paul Dimery said graffiti was a crime that spread fear in the community.
"Graffiti is a symptom that a community doesn't care and it just leads to further offending."
Northland MP Shane Jones said tagging was blatant vandalism.
"It's a blight on our lives, particularly in the North where it has taken hold among our dysfunctional and anti-social wreckers from Wellsford to Kaitaia and every town in between," Mr Jones said.
He said taggers exhibited the same behaviour as tomcats, "running around trying to mark their territory."
"Except it's not their territory. It's property that belongs to other people who do not deserve to be driven mad by these idiots."
• What do you think of the crackdown on tagging? Text the Advocate on 021 667 034.