By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
GRAFFITI vandalism in Casey has continued to rise over the past two years.
And Casey Council and Victoria Police are again urging the community to report graffiti sighted in the municipality as part of an ongoing joint operation between the two institutions.
City of Casey Manager Community Safety Caroline Bell said the increase could be attributed to the municipality’s growth in both infrastructure and population.
“It’s (graffiti) certainly increasing in the last 12 months to two years.
“We’ve seen an increase in the amount of graffiti that we are removing,” she said.
“It remained fairly static for five to eight years and then it has gradually started to increase.
“But we’re also seeing a significant increase in the amount of hard infrastructure that we have in the municipality – industrial areas, housing areas, fences, buildings and all of those things.
“As the municipality continues to grow, obviously there’s an increasing pallet for people to be using.”
Casey’s graffiti management program was started in 2002 by the council and police, and encourages residents to report sightings of graffiti to both bodies.
Graffiti is reported from hotspots across the municipality including in Endeavour Hills, Narre Warren and Cranbourne.
It’s understood a vandal, who has been using the same tag and has still not been caught, has clocked up to $18,000 worth of damage in Hampton Park in the last few months.
Police are interested in speaking to anyone that may be aware of the offender.
Acting Senior Sergeant Jen McKenna said the City of Casey provided police with monthly graffiti statistics, indicating which suburbs are peaking for graffiti incidents at that current time.
“That’s how we work in partnership. We discuss the tags, we work it out – sometimes it might be a one-off tag, most likely it’s one we’re seeing over and over,” she said.
“The data base is fantastic. If we apprehend someone for graffiti and it’s a specific tag, we’re not just focused on the one incident.
“We have contact straight away with council, with our Community Safety Officer and we go through the data base and often – we had this shown from our last offender that was picked up – we were able to go through the data base and find that they were responsible for numerous incidents.”
For graffiti removal, call 1800 VANDAL (826 325), or email casey@ums.com.au.
Anyone with any information about the incident or the identity of the vandal is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
