Lord Mayor Unveils Anti-graffiti Campaign
29 March, 2011
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman today unveiled a new anti-graffiti campaign, calling on residents and visitors to help tackle graffiti by being the eyes and ears of Brisbane.
Cr Newman and Crime Stoppers Queensland launched the ‘Tag Them Back’ anti-graffiti campaign at Brisbane City Council’s Sparkes Hill Reservoir at Stafford today to encourage people to report taggers and suspicious activities to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
“Since I launched Brisbane’s first dedicated graffiti taskforce two years ago more than 200 graffiti vandals have been caught and charged with 6600 offences,” he said.
“Council has a zero tolerance approach to the crime of graffiti and spends a whopping $3.6 million per year on graffiti removal, prevention and education.
“That’s money that could be spent on parks, cycle paths, playgrounds and all sorts of improvements in the community. There is still a long way to go and we need the public’s help.”
Cr Newman said Brisbane residents were telling him they wanted to get rid of all graffiti from their park benches, bus stops, basketball courts and other public surfaces.
“That’s why I’m calling on people to get involved in ‘Tag Them Back’ and report graffiti taggers and suspicion of tagging to Crime Stoppers,” he said.
“Crime Stoppers will pass all information received onto the Taskforce Against Graffiti and officers will use this information along with proactive policing strategies to detect and apprehend graffiti offenders.”
Cr Newman said the taskforce had been a major success since its inception and Council would continue to support them in their quest to rid Brisbane’s suburbs of illegal graffiti once and for all.
“The graffiti taskforce has been so successful because they’re working one step ahead of these vandals and catching them before they have a chance to strike again,” he said.
“I’m also committed to removing this unsightly vandalism from our streets quickly and have tripled the number of Council’s graffiti clean up crews from four to 12 since in the last six years.”
Last financial year Council spent more than $2 million responding to 140,324 tags and removing 190,363 square metres of graffiti from council property.
Council also commits $1.5 million each year to the Taskforce Against Graffiti program, working alongside Queensland Police officers to detect and apprehend graffiti offenders.
There are three ways to ‘Tag Them Back’ anonymously – report online at www.tagthemback.com.au, call the 1800 333 000 Crime Stoppers hotline or SMS the word ‘TAG’ to 1800 333 000 for more information.
