Armadale and Gosnells winning battle to scrub out graffiti

SOUTHEASTERN suburbs councils have spent far less cleaning graffiti in the last financial year than in previous years.

Police conducted Operation Quadrangle from June 27 to July 3 and as a result 400 charges were laid and almost 150 arrests made.

City of Gosnells spent more than $320,000 cleaning up graffiti last year, down from more than $350,000 the previous year financial year.

Armadale Mayor Henry Zelones said since 2012, the number of incidents reported had decreased by 22 per cent.

Armadale allocated $50,000 in its 2015-16 budget for the removal of graffiti.

Serpentine-Jarrahdale has also seen a decrease in the amount spent removing graffiti, with the Shire spending about $28,000 in the past financial year, almost half the $55,000 spent the previous financial year.

Armadale have an action group that operates throughout the region with community volunteers removing graffiti from infrastructure such as fences, walls and laneways.

The Civic Pride Action Group is supported by the City of Armadale, which provides funding for the purchase of materials like solvents, cleaning products and paints, as well as a dual-cab truck to transport up to seven people and all the group’s equipment.

Mr Zelones said CCTV footage was also helpful in combating graffiti.

“They do a terrific job and Armadale is reasonably graffiti-free as a result,” he said.

Gosnells has a full-time team of graffiti technicians to combat graffiti vandalism

City of Gosnells records all graffiti incidents on council infrastructure and photos are provided to police as evidence.

Armadale Police officer in charge Glenn Spencer said they made 13 arrests because of work done through Operation Quadrangle.

“We gained some very valuable information about who is using a particular tag, which is just graffiti crook’s ‘cool’ way of saying scribbling their names on other people’s property,” he said.