Tackling graffiti

daymobrew

Sometime before Christmas a load of graffiti appeared overnight in the Riverwood estate in Carpenterstown.
After a ton of calls to various departments in Fingal CoCo, the builders, Castlethorn, stepped in and did a fantastic job cleaning it.

I, as part of the Riverwood Residents Association committee, am wondering how other groups tackle graffiti?
Could a number of groups get together to get such graffiti cleaned up quickly?

I would initially like to contact groups in Carpenterstown to determine the extent of the problem here, but would also like to hear ideas from other areas.

Stinjy

to be honest I wouldnt know a thing about cleaning it up but i do know some of it is done as an art form, most "tags" arn't and there are people who will go around spraying everything for the heck of it, but I would suggest that if there was a wall somewhere not a part of someones house or a public building mabye even build a wall that is ment for graffiti, it should stop some damage and its just the fact that theese people feel the need to have their tag in places, it probably means something to them, mabye something of pride so if there was a suitable place to put a wall let them use it for graffiti! jsut a suggestion, might help

daymobrew

Stinjy wrote: »

I would suggest that if there was a wall somewhere not a part of someone's house or a public building maybe even build a wall that is meant for graffiti, it should stop some damage

I agree that there is some impressive "street art" out there - I saw some near on the canal under the M50 roundabout (zoom out to see where I mean).

I am trying to get suggestions to tackle the somewhat pointless tagging.

quank

That graffiti you posted really does look ugly and tasteless. Does anyone know the penalty for being caught?

A purpose-built canvas for graffiti artists and taggers could decrease the pointless mess made in public view. I haven't ever been to the skate park in the Millenium park but perhaps organising an event to invite any graffiti artists to decorate the concrete there wouldn't be a bad idea. It would give some of them an outlet while a colourful skate park can look pretty nice.

Stinjy

yeah there have been some events for artists, I know there was one because I saw a kid about 11 buying spray paints and they were questioned at the desk like just out of intrest what they were doing because they had been in before and the kid told them that one of the local authoritys had asked him would he paint a wall for them.

The skate park has some graffiti already, not sure if it meant to be there but im sure if you went in while no-one was around you could do something...

JimmyCrackCorn!

Would someone not just give them a section of park where they can paint whatever they want legally.

That way you will have less to clean up so it can be done quicker.

Skyhawk1990

A few of you meet up and set up a stake out with buckets, water, detergents and brushes. when you see someone going to do it pounce on them and make them clean it!:D Impractical I know but it's only a suggestion

and as a last* resort replace the buckets with something that hurts knock them out and then use the spray paint on them.:pac: they'll soon stop doing it.








* by last resort I mean NEVER EVER do this one! Now to be infracted for inciting violence!!!:D

gollyitsolly

I know a couple of kids who were caught by the garda. Their phones were confiscated and they had to attend a course to educate them about the negative impact on society graffiti had. It did stop them,not because of the course but because of losing their phones! Their phones were returned after six months. I suppose the hardest part is catching them in the act. Then again it is a human thing to leave your mark somewhere! Cave drawings could be classified as graffiti too. I have been saying for years that there isnt much in Ireland for a kid between the ages of 12 and 17 to do that dosent cost money. Teenage years are like a rite of passage through life and they want to express themselves and experiment. Look at the way they stall around in groups and packs. They have nowhere to gather apart from the streets and corners. I can see more of them coming up the line in the future from all the apartment blocks around and foresee a lot worse than graffiti coming in the near future. But thats another debate.

Gaspode

You know, I think there's a whole lot more for kids to do that doesnt cost a whole lot of money if the kids are interested enough to look for it or get involved. Cans of spray paint cost money, so its probably not money that the issue.
I think its just a thing that some small minority of kids think is 'cool' to do and eventually most grow out of it - not too many adult 'taggers' out there is there?

Catching them in the act is the only way to deal with it, and that's notoriously difficult. Chances are the culprits are from your locality, so they'll know if there's a neighbourhood watch effort at keeping an eye on things at night.

iMADEtheBBC

I would like to know more about local action being taken on this so that I can support it.

My car was recently vandalised (spray painted all over) on the same night that our estate was tagged by one of these scumbags. They did one of my neighbours cars too but mine was ruined and took 2 days in an autorepair to be fixed. The same scumbag has tagged all over the area down as far as the M50 bridge at Portersgate.

Unfortunately we're seeing the same tag appearing all over the area (Carpenterstown-Bramley) every couple of weeks.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to catch them in the act and have the Gardai deal with them.

daymobrew

iMADEtheBBC wrote: »

Unfortunately we're seeing the same tag appearing all over the area (Carpenterstown-Bramley) every couple of weeks.

Photograph the tags so that if the culprits are caught they can be charged for all incidents.

The Community Gardai told us in Riverwood to report any suspicious people e.g. hodded individuals with a backpack in the early hours.

DCTF

photographs please of the tags people might know who it is from the tag or as said already might catch the offender in the process of tagging.

This is an offence under Section 2(1), Criminal Damage Act 1991.

iMADEtheBBC

Ok, will do. I'll photograph some of the examples and put them up here.

iMADEtheBBC

Here are 5 samples of the graffiti created by this 1 individual. They're all from the Carpenterstown, Portersgate area. More examples can be found through Bramley and along the Diswellstown Road.

He/She uses a tag similar to 'Stev2' and the use of the squared question mark should be noted. Castleknock Community College had this sprayed all over their gate pillars.

I am extremely interested in finding out more about the individual responsible for this.

image5 is from the M50 bridge at Portersgate. This 'face' effect was sprayed on walls along the Diswellstown Road and on post boxes, bins and bus shelters along the 37 bus route from Diswellstown Road up to Laurel Lodge.

images 1 through 4 are in the Luttrellstown estate (just off the Diswellstown Road). However the tag and that 'face' appear along the Diswellstown Road and up into Bramley.

daymobrew

DCTF wrote: »

This is an offence under Section 2(1), Criminal Damage Act 1991.

FYI: This is Section 2(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1991:

2.—(1) A person who without lawful excuse damages any property belonging to another intending to damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be damaged shall be guilty of an offence.

iMADEtheBBC wrote: »

I'll photograph some of the examples and put them up here.

Please also mention where the graffiti is.