Police focus on graffiti taggers

Police say people should call 999 to report graffiti artists

Police in Cambridge say an initiative to stop graffiti artists leaving their mark is already successful, with one offender facing charges.

A 14-year-old boy, thought to be responsible for graffiti in Newnham and Fen Ditton, has been arrested after a tip-off, police said.

"Targeting the Taggers" is a project involving local police, British Transport Police and the city council. The force has asked members of the public to report incidents of tagging.

Police said anyone seeing graffiti being put up should call 999 to report that criminal damage is taking place, along with a description of the offenders if possible.

Tagging 'blight'

Pc Steve Hinks, who is leading the initiative, said: "Graffiti and tagging blights our city and I would urge the public to look around and see how much damage is being caused by a small number of people.

"This particular boy had heard about the tagging campaign and was scared of being caught soon; this shows that our message is getting out to those people carrying out this type of crime.

"Graffiti can make people feel unsafe and actually contributes to raising their fear of crime."

City councillor Iain Coleman said Cambridge pays £120,000 in cleanup costs for graffiti and other damage each year.