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The City of Melbourne is trying to recoup money spent cleaning up graffiti from the vandals themselves, and says one prolific tagger alone caused $177,885 in damage and clean-up costs.
The council has in its sights graffiti taggers known as “Yomp”, “Q Bee” and “Bruege” and has been assisting police with prosecutions.
The council’s pursuit of the taggers follows ongoing legal proceedings against the Jack Gibson-Burrell, who has pleaded not guilty to allegations he caused $700,000 in damages with distinctive cartoon graffiti tags of “Pam the Bird” across Melbourne.
Council papers published before next week’s council meeting claim Yomp has contributed to 34 tags at an estimated cost to the City of Melbourne of $4920.
The council is seeking a compensation order as part of two criminal proceedings being brought by Victoria Police against Yomp and Q Bee.
The council papers state it has also assisted police in relation to the “high-profile and high-cost” graffiti vandal Bruege, who it says has contributed to 1712 tags at an estimated cost to the council of $177,885.
One of Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s election promises was to force taggers to pay for damage in the City of Melbourne and potentially to be part of the team cleaning it up.
The council papers indicate the City of Melbourne is unlikely to pursue its own cases against taggers, but instead will seek compensation in proceedings brought by Victoria Police.
“We said we would crack down on graffiti vandals, and we are,” Reece said. “The message could not be clearer: if you spray, you will pay.”
Reece said the council was using its CCTV camera network, including new camera technologies, to help identify vandals.
“If you are up to no good, you are more likely than ever to be caught,” he said.
The estimated cost and resources required to pursue civil proceedings against alleged graffiti vandals is expected to range between $10,000 and $100,000.
“This will be undertaken on a case-by-case basis,” the council papers state.
Every year the City of Melbourne spends about $1 million on repairing criminal damage caused by tagging and graffiti.
The council papers note the complexity and costs associated with pursuing graffiti vandals through civil proceedings.
The City of Melbourne cannot take civil action on behalf of a private property owner, only in relation to council-owned land or assets.
The council needs to be able to know and locate the offender and prove who made the mark through witnesses or security cameras.
“Taking civil proceedings will be resource-intensive and costly for council,” the papers state.
Swinburne graffiti expert Dr Stephen Glackin said people often did not notice the slow growth of graffiti until there was a “big bust” such as in Pam the Bird, which brought it to public attention.
He said pursuing costs from graffiti vandals, whom he refers to as “writers”, could act as a deterrent but was also likely to be an expensive exercise including not only court costs but also the time to build the evidence base to the quality that a court would accept.
“Most writers know that they’re not going to get much more than the slap on the wrist,” he said. “Magistrates don’t like putting people who do tagging or do big pieces into incarceration. They don’t see it as appropriate, even though some of these people do hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.”
Glackin said there had been examples of costs being pursued against graffiti vandals, such as two men who graffitied “No war” on the Sydney Opera House 20 years ago being ordered to pay $150,000 in clean-up costs.
“If [the City of Melbourne] can line up all the ducks, then it will go a long way to reducing incidents of graffiti, as it will have direct and strong impact on the offender,” he said.
Victoria Police was contacted for comment.
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