Teens arrested for graffiti offences
12:00a.m. 14th October 2008
Two teenagers have been arrested for graffiti offences on the Sunshine Coast on the same day a Brisbane-based taskforce to fight graffiti was being hailed as a success.
The weekend arrest of the pair at Chancellor Park followed the launch of a joint anti-graffiti taskforce between police and Brisbane City Council.
And Police Minister Judy Spence said yesterday the Sunshine Coast Council could also approach the state government to establish a similar taskforce.
“If other councils in Queensland are interested in a similar type of partnership then we’re happy to talk to them,” she said.
Ms Spence described the Brisbane taskforce as the first of its kind in Queensland. It includes five officers “who will focus solely on investigating, identifying and arresting graffiti offenders”.
“(And) we have introduced measures to ensure council officers, working with offenders on community correction orders, can get in and clean up graffiti immediately – sending a strong message to vandals that their rubbish is not welcome on our streetscapes.
“Every year, people on community corrections orders, including graffiti offenders, are ordered to remove graffiti as part of their reparation for their crimes.”
Just five days after the taskforce was launched, an 18-year-old man was charged with 21 graffiti offences in the Fortitude Valley area.
Two male juveniles – one aged 14, the other 16 – were also arrested at Chancellor Park by officers from the Sunshine Coast Child Protection Investigative unit, a police spokesman said.
“They will be dealt with under the Juvenile Justice Act, and further inquiries are being made related to other offences,” he said.
Community outrage recently peaked when local resident Graeme Hall undertook a mission to paint over graffiti-covered noise barriers along the Sunshine Motorway.
Transport minister John Mickel initially warned Mr Hall he could be prosecuted for doing so, but quickly back-flipped, promising the painting would be carried out by his department.
Brisbane’s detective superintendent Gayle Hogan, of the Organised Crime Group, said the arrests sent a clear message this behaviour was not acceptable in the community.
“This should send a message to would-be graffiti vandals – we are targeting your activities and it’s only a matter of time before you get caught,” she said.
