Emu Plains resident, Peter Philliponi, is tired of cleaning graffiti from his front fence and garage and is calling on some ‘old-fashioned’ punishment to deter teenagers from defacing property.
“Council does a good job removing graffiti however, the kids responsible should be the ones who clean it up,” he said.
“It’s just like cleaning your dinner plate – teach kids to clean up after themselves and they learn not to be so messy. Teens caught vandalising property and fences should be given 10 fences to clean up, and if they are caught again, 20 until they realise they cannot get away with it.”
Mr Philliponi said he does not support any methods to deter graffiti vandals that involve fining children or parents.
“That won’t achieve anything because it is just creating a burden on the entire family,” he said.
Penrith election candidate, Sue Day, said one solution to holding repeat offenders accountable would be for Penrith City Council to adopt the ‘Vandaltrak’ model where a database of graffiti tags are stored with information being supplied directly to police so that they can identify who is responsible for the vandalism.
“This not for profit public company can effectively help the current hotlines and task forces and more importantly assist in prosecuting offenders. This is the type of vital program that needs to be partnered with Penrith City Council, so we can have a community network which can manage the recording, reporting and removal of graffiti,” she said.
“This is a free service for the ratepayers and uses a website designed for one purpose; to fight graffiti vandalism. It’s a quick and simple way for residents to record and report graffiti using a digital camera or mobile phone.”
Penrith City Council already has a hotline for graffiti to be reported, free of cost on 1800 022 182.
Council’s strategy includes education starting as early as primary school students, prevention through strategic design and landscaping and well as removal.
How would you fix the graffiti problem? Email your thoughts to [email protected].
