A SHARP rise in graffiti and vandalism in and around Footscray has spurred one of the biggest crackdowns on the problem.
Maribyrnong Council, Footscray police and the Department of Justice have joined forces to tackle the spread of illegal graffiti in public spaces and on private property.
Under a new program, offenders will clean up illegal graffiti as part of their court-imposed community work orders.
Footscray police’s Inspector Tony Long said reports of graffiti had been dropping year to year, indicating people felt there was no point reporting it.
“Graffiti has become a really big problem in Maribyrnong. You only have to walk around Maribyrnong, and Footscray in particular, to see how much graffiti is around,” he said.
“In the past 12 months we’ve had 57 reports of graffiti and you would probably find that in one street.
“We know there are all kinds of graffiti gangs working in the area. The difficulty is they’re very transient.”
Inspector Long said the stereotype that only young offenders were responsible was only part of the picture. Prosecutions showed offenders were aged up to their 40s.
“We are catching offenders for it and the CCTV system has been quite successful in doing that.”
The council is considering increasing its $130,500 graffiti removal budget this year by $100,000 in a three-month blitz to remove all obvious illegal graffiti from public and private property.
Mayor Catherine Cumming said the amount of graffiti across the municipality had skyrocketed.
“We want to work with people who have been victims of graffiti.
‘‘We want people to know that by keeping properties clean you deter graffitists,” she said.
“Cr Michael Clarke makes the point that you don’t see this in Toorak, you don’t see this in South Yarra. We’ve just become so used to it, people don’t bother reporting it as a crime.”
Cr Cumming said graffiti attracted more graffiti and getting the area back to a clean slate offered the best chance to keep it that way.
Department of Justice graffiti removal program manager Jason MacLeod told last week’s council community and services committee meeting that in Maribyrnong 25,000 square metres of graffiti had been removed under the program.
The community is being urged to report illegal graffiti to council or police as soon as it appears.
Victims may be entitled to a free graffiti removal kit or have it removed by the program.
Report graffiti to the council on 9688 0200.
