‘Zero tolerance’ on spray

By Paul Dunlop
SPRAYCAN vandals will be treated as criminals and their tags will be recorded in a database to help track serial offenders under a new ‘zero tolerance’ crackdown on graffiti.
Cardinia Shire councillors on Monday vowed to step up efforts to rid Pakenham and other towns of a growing problem, described by mayor Bill Ronald as a “scourge on the community”.
The council said it would now notify police every time a fresh outbreak was discovered on shireowned property.
The tougher stance was pushed by Central Ward councillor Brett Owen, who said more needed to be done to stamp out the problem.
“Graffiti and damage to council assets is a crime,” Cr Owen said.
“We need to do better in this area to get a clearer picture of the problem we have in this shire with graffiti.”
Business operators and council are spending thousands of dollars to keep the town clean from an increasing spread of graffiti in recent times.
The Bunyip Town Hall was recently targeted in an attack which Cr Ronald said emphasised the size of the problem.
Cr Owen said he was concerned the council had previously not reported all incidents of graffiti on municipalowned buildings.
Cr Owen, who is a policeman, said police should always be notified, regardless of the significance of the crime.
“If we are not reporting it, police are unable to get a clear, true picture of problem areas and hot spots,” he said.
“If a crime occurs, a crime occurs.
“If we say even $5 worth of damage is okay, what is that message to the community?”
Cr Owen’s stance was supported by colleagues, although Cr Graeme Legge wondered whether trivial offences warranted police members’ time.
Shire officials were also quick to point out that Cardinia Council had not been idle in pursuing the issue.
Acting chief executive Garry McQuillan said discussions had been held with Pakenham Police about the best way to tackle incident reporting, and the council had reported most incidents.
“I don’t want people to get the impression we’re not doing anything,” Mr McQuillan said.
General manager of assets and services Michael Ellis said the council had been vigilant and was working with police to compile a databank of common tags to help track the worst offenders.
Cr Ronald, who recently attended a local government graffiti summit in the City of Casey, said a number of councils had previously been reluctant to report minor infringements on the basis that they were not significant and did not want to waste police and council time.
But the mayor said the only way to combat graffiti was to face it headon, taking the toughest possible stance.
“Zero tolerance is the way to go,” Cr Ronald said.
“We need to steer these ‘artists’ away from painting graffiti on municipal property and let them graffiti the inside of jail cells.”