As Whangarei seethes under a growing blanket of graffiti, police and the city's council are meeting tomorrow to try to come up with a strategy to deal with taggers. Police warn that a city covered in graffiti could be perceived as a place that "doesn't care" - and that could
lead to an increase in other crime. Graffiti-covered walls are a sign a community doesn't care, and will lead to increased crime, Whangarei's top cop Inspector Paul Dimery warns.
Police will meet Whangarei District Council staff and Mayor Pamela Peters tomorrow to try to come up with a strategy to deal with Whangarei's growing graffiti problem.
Mr Dimery, police area controller for Whangarei and Kaipara, said he had noticed a common trend apparent in some Whangarei suburbs of high amounts of graffiti followed by a rise in burglary and car break-ins.
"If criminals notice there is a lot of graffiti in an area they'll assume nobody is watching and this will inevitably lead to more crime in that area," he said.
Northland police are cracking down on taggers and urging the public to be more vigilant in protecting their communities.
Only eight graffiti offences on average are passed to police each month, which means many go unreported. Whangarei District Council graffiti-busting contractors are attending about 750 complaints a month, compared with about 300 a month at the start of the year.
Police have identified Whangarei shops that unknowingly supply taggers with spray cans.
Although there are no laws preventing the sale of spray cans to youths, police have asked shopowners not sell to people under the age of 20. Youths wishing to buy it for legitimate reasons will have to provide identification and give their address.
"The shopowners have been very co-operative with our requests," said Mr Dimery.
"Of course, some people do genuinely need spray paint but by asking for identification it'll hopefully put off taggers who wouldn't want to become known to the police."
Police are also hoping to take over the tagging database compiled by graffiti-busting operation D'Tag which deals with about 750 complaints a month. That will help police keep a close eye on tagging records and recurring tags that could help secure convictions.
Mr Dimery planned to discuss a potential bylaw aimed at reducing the amount of graffiti in the city at tomorrow's meeting.
Mrs Peters said it was hoped other community and business groups could also be brought in to find a strategy to help deal with the graffiti scourge.
"We will also be looking at what is being done elsewhere in New Zealand to deal with this problem. There are a lot of people working in this area now in Whangarei and we need a co-ordinated approach and to find a community solution to this," she said.
* Patch-up paint kept on hand
A tin of paint, ready to be licked onto graffiti-clad walls, is tucked at the corner of the Raumanga Medical Centre's reception lounge.
Like many business and residential properties around Whangarei, the centre has experienced a surge in graffiti in the past five months.
Dr Ron Abraham, from the centre, said the building had been sprayed on all sides, with the latest, and the biggest so far, on the top half of the building facing Otaika Rd. "It's very annoying, unsightly and time-consuming and we have a tin of paint ready to get rid of the signs," Dr Abraham said.
He said usually his staff rang the D'Tag anti-tagging agency but this time it had been busy attending to other cases.
"We assume teenagers are doing it. Normally they'll do it to the side walls - all the sides - but this time around they did it up there - by the road side and in full view of the public."
Dr Abraham said graffiti was a national as well as an international problem as he saw when in Istanbul, Turkey, last week.
He said a group of people in the Whangarei community felt tagging was okay and so continued with the practice. "It's a cultural norm and unfortunately we have to deal with it," Dr Abraham said.
He didn't believe controlling sale of spray cans would solve the problem, saying people's right to buy whatever they liked would be stifled.
• Are you fed up with tagging? Are the police and council doing enough? How can tagging be stopped? Join The Northern Advocate's anti-tagging campaign and text your views, write to The Editor, Northern Advocate, PO Box 210, Whangarei, or email editor@northernadvocate.co.nz
As Whangarei seethes under a growing blanket of graffiti, police and the city's council are meeting tomorrow to try to come up with a strategy to deal with taggers. Police warn that a city covered in graffiti could be perceived as a place that "doesn't care" - and that could
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