Your say: Clamping down on tagging on Home Services

Feb

Your say: Clamping down on tagging

posted by admin in Window Cleaning

%26bull; Clark to announce graffiti crackdown

Whats the best way to clampdown on tagging? Email your feedback to editorial@stuff.co.nz

The main problem with taggers, is their complete lack of respect for the people who own the property being tagged. How about, if you catch the little snots tagging, take a spray can to the things they hold valuable, like their cars, or stereos or something. That might make them think about how it feels to be a victim of tagging. If not, I like the bootcamp Idea, throw them all in the wilderness with a psycho ex Army sarge, and see how they hold up then! - Sarah Willcox
%26quot;Why do people put up %26quot;blank canvases%26quot; in the form of expanses of white walls or wooden fences?%26quot; This type of thinking, where it is the victims fault and not the criminals has to be changed. We will never get on top of any crime when some people think like this.- John N
Instead of sending early school leavers into some mind-numbing tyre changing activity, why not put a proportion of the money allocated for cleaning up towards dynamic community based art and design programmes where both individual and collective energies, values, and art interests can be extended, personalised and used positively. There are many creative ways to handle the current out of control situation other than imposing punishment, after all this form of expression has been around since people scratched on cave walls! Perhaps someone should talk to the taggers themselves and see how many might be interested in this form of useful education and work from there?- Dr Carole Shepheard
You will havae noticed that ever since corporal punishment was abolished in schools, the crime and societal conditions have been on a continual downslide - in Singapore, where this is in force, their society is about 98% safe - rape sees the death penalty - littering brings on an instant fine of $500 - as long as we contine to faff around with criminal offenders, crime will continue- Skottie
Aunty Helen thinks big fines are the answer…..how would they find the money, waste of time. Charge the parents if they are under 16 not the shopkeepers… banning isnt the answer, the lads need to spray their cars and we all find uses for a can of touch up paint at times… but the idiots abuse them. No tolerance of tagging is fine but more people will end up being employed to supervise the %26quot;restorative justice%26quot; community work and the little sods wont turn up anyway. Parents must be held accountable for childrens behaviour.- CL
These kids are not able to pay their fines NOW so what difference will increasing the fine make….just like the boy racers with over $50,000 in fines. Put them in jail or make their parents pay!- Greg Haycock
The government initiatives to clamp down on tagging are of course a good move to rid the cities of this urban decay but I have to cynically note that its interesting that it is occurring at this point in time in an %26quot;election year%26quot;. Tagging has been around in its worst possible excesses for a very long time and they only decide to do something now? Labour party spin at its best. I guess its better than doing nothing which is what the other side would do. On the view of eliminating tagging, something can be done by just using common sense. Why do people put up %26quot;blank canvases%26quot; in the form of expanses of white walls or wooden fences? The key is to build a fence and then automatically place a line of shrubs in front of it to obscure the view. Graffiti is all done for %26quot;show%26quot; to demonstrate which gang is %26quot;out there%26quot;, a form of subcultural chest thumping or a protest at the %26quot;haves%26quot; (who knows really) so if you hide the %26quot;canvases%26quot; from view behind a tree, that puts paid to it. The extra shrubs will also eat up a wee bit more of that %26quot;carbon%26quot; we ve all been worried about!- Michael
Just what you would expect from Helen Clark - poor police - under resourced and now they are going to spend time arresting kids that tag! More resources will be needed and 4 mill wont cut the mustard across NZ - perhaps south Auckland where the problem is big again the taxpayer of NZ will be paying for the big cities of NZ namely Auckland!!!!!! Boring- Craig
Banning the sale of spray cans will do nothing to stop tagging - most of these are stolen. Should be under lock and key through paint merchants not mass merchandisers. Also in Hamilton taggers are now using boot polish and paint - put on with a paint brush all over window signage, and buildings, this is much more difficult to remove and is costing businesses a lot to redo signage which is then again defaced. These people have no pride in their community - dont give a damn and will carry on regardless of any banning of spray paint for under 18s and not all of these are from under 18s. All paint should be only sold through paint merchants…and very heavy fines or lengthy community service imposed on the vandals.-Don Lindale
I think we need to be realistic with the new sentence of $2000 for tagging. $2000 is the MAXIMUM that someone will get. And these days virtually nobody ever gets the maximum for any offence. Therefore it will make little change as judges will only fractionally increase the fine for tagging (if at all). The classic example of this was when the penalties for Summary Offences doubled several years ago. Offenders were getting fined $200 for disorderly behaviour with a maximum of $500. The maximum penalty doubled to $1000 but convicted offenders contined getting fined around the $200. The increase in sentence will make no difference. Fines are hardly ever paid by offenders anyway.- Chris Scott
Fines are no good they either just dont pay or cant pay. Make them fix the damage done first and then make them do some serious work like mowing lawns for the elderly or claening up the rivers etc- John Neilson
Heres my quick 5c worth. I think people buying spray cans should have a limit on how much they can buy per sale and have sellers have a system where they can input the name on IDs so we can check who is excessively buying and then they are dealt with accordingly,- Anna
I think large fines are stupid because they will just pay their DOL money back into it anyway. I say make them clean graffiti for 2 weeks, then put them in bootcamp for 3 months. The cheeky ones can be dealt to by the Military Police and released when they do what they are told. Its funny how Helen Clark says %26quot;Its presence in an area also contributes to fears that the place is not safe. That too is destructive of communities.%26quot;, and yet its her Government that has forced socialism into our face and destroyed families.- J. Luke
Its all good to put the maximum fine up to $2000, but how many taggers actually get caught? And how many of them will actually get the maximum fine? In this case it might not be all about punishing the problem, but there definitely needs to be more done to prevent the cause. I suppose its a start…- Emma Wickens
They should record who buys spay cans, much like when you buy codral @ the chemist, you need to show ID and they take your name and address. Then they can monitor anyone buying excessive amounts of paint.-Keryn
I think making it illegal for under 18s to buy spray cans is a ridiculous idea. It may stop a small number of offences, but if these people really want to tag, theyll get a spray can from somewhere. Alcohol is illegal for under 18s, but they still drink it. Guns are illegal, but the wrong people still have them. It would be better for the government to look at the reasons why these kids are tagging like their upbringing, social background etc. We need to give them something else to do, something constructive they can use to pass the time. Making things illegal for under 18s means theyll try new ways of getting it, for example stealing, or even associating themselves with a gang. Increasing the fine for tagging is pointless as well - look what theyve just done with speeding fines, and the reasons for that! Im definitely no crime expert, but I do know that making spray cans illegal for under 18s is pointless.- Andrew

You have to wonder whether stiffer fines will only make for greater glamourisation - if you continue to tag, youre all the more bad-ass. Couple that with the fact that youre still only likely to catch a fraction of the offenders, and that the typical tagger will all too often be incapable of paying such a fine, and the approach seems problematic. There is no doubt that the more pro-active approaches to addressing the issue (such as banning sales to a certain age group) come with difficulties, but I suspect theyd achieve a lot more.- D. Town
Such fines and punishments should also apply to tagging on the streets , i.e. burn out marks on city streets %26amp; roads that are impossible to remove until the streets are re-sealed. $2000 fine could go into coffers of repairing street surfaces.- Diana
The trouble with this policy is that taggers are rarely caught in the act, performing their graffiti randomly in the small hours of the night. They are caught only via pure luck by police on patrol or vigilant night-owl neighbours. The official banning of sale to under 18s is a vacuous move, as most retailers have been restricting their sale for years, some going so far as to state no person under 21 may purchase spray paint. Also the kind of delinquents who tag are the ones who will steal rattle cans from stores without a second thought, rather than pay. Taggers that are under 18 are unlikely to be able to pay these large fines, nor willing. Many teens believe they are above the law, avoiding community service would not be a challenge for them. Possibly the best method to eradicate graffiti is to band the community together against the problem. If you see graffiti on your home, fence, workplace or playground, clean it up immediately. This essentially is the local councils responsibility, but they rarely seem to invest the resources needed to do this. The less graffiti is seen, the fewer will be inspired to create their own.- Chris Wharton
The hard line they need to take is first send them to court and fine them, if they cant pay then tough find something to sell and give the money to the person whose property they attacked. Follow the fine up with a bit of cleaning; sentence them all a set amount of time to clean up their mess and who ever elses there is around. It would sort of be like PD or community service or what ever it is called now. Say maybe 50 hours cleaning the first time, second then it is 150 as they obviously cant learn easily and need help, for the third then it goes up to 400 as they must be really slow learners with a max of 1000 for those that just dont get it. Eventually if they have to spend long enough cleaning they may think it is not a good idea. I also think we should provide a properly maintained area so those that do like to do this kind of thing will have a special place to go to be artistic, this is something they have done in many places including Perth and their graffiti is low. I can honestly say though that none of these ideas will be taken on due to them being %26quot;unfair%26quot; to all the poor little taggers and it will be a to hard thing to do. So let us all sit back and see just how much the graffiti reduces and then laugh with all the taggers as nothing happens - Rosemary K
You could ban all spray paint sales, as, clearly, it is the fault of the spray paint. Taggers also use Vivid pens too. Better ban those. How about banning all writing and painting implements all together? Surely then the message will get across about respecting other people. Banning all sales to everyone is certainly the cheaper and easier way, but teaching respect, less community tolerance of tagging and harsher punishments would do more to address the actual issues.- Mel
Ban the sale of spray cans to the general public so thatonly master painters can purchase them. Spray cans are so easy to buy and cheap, anybody can get their hands on them in bulk.- Sarah Raynor
My boyfriends punishment would be to cut off the hand they write with and if they didnt learn from that lesson, cut the other hand off.- xzanteheyze
The real menaces to society thus far have been the paint manufacturers who make huge profits from spray can sales and then further profits from sales of ten litre buckets of paint to cover the tags. The simplest way to reduce tagging to a thing of the past is to legislate the sale of paint in a spray can to registered master painters only, who seldom, if at all, use them anyway. If a person is caught tagging or in possession of a spray can then its sale can be traced back to the point of sale and to the purchaser through the bar code. The outlet could then face a fine and the culprit ordered to lick the tag off. With the predictable drop in sales one can safely assume an end to production of paint in spray cans. Problem solved. The production and sale has gone unabated for years and will continue unless our law-makers take the simple step of restricting sales to anyone other than a professional- Hemi Potae
Finally some help from the government. Why not force the tagger to PAY compensation to the offended party as well. Why is it taking so long for the government to put forth legislation to get serious about car theft. - Mitchell
The best way to clamp down on tagging is basically what Helen Clark suggests, make it a law that anyone caught tagging is arrested, then making them remove the tagging, made to wear a fluorescent vest with VANDAL printed on the back and front, to fine to the person and/or parents, an apology to the owners of the property and a criminal record set in place. Also to make it a law to make it illegal to sell spraypaint to under 18s as Helen Clark has suggested. - T. Cater
Ban all spray-can sales, nationwide, period. This might inconvenience a small group who use them for practical usage, but would stop a majority of offences. Few will be bothered to take a paint brush and can out to tagg the town. Remove their weapon of choice and they will probably stop all together.- Emma Matthews
As well as the $2,000 fine make the taggers clean up their taggings as well as pay for the materials used for cleaning.Australia has very little tagging so maybe we should find out how they go about this problem.- YS, Tauranga
Taggers travel in vehicles also. Disqualify the offenders and drivers also. - Peter and Catherine

They need to get these young kids with too much time on their hands, out beautifying their local community, teach hem the value of hard work and some responsibility! Make them responsible for their actions.- Bill