Residents practice 'street justice' on taggers

Fed up with vandalism of their property, a group of Papamoa residents have employed "naming and shaming" methods to teach taggers a lesson.

Fifteen tagging victims from the Bay of Plenty town banded together to confront two teenagers alleged to be responsible for an early morning vandalism rampage yesterday.

The 13-year-old, who locals describe as a "walking crime spree", and his 19-year-old alleged co-offender, spent the rest of the day cleaning and painting out the damage to 15 fences and three cars in Papamoa Beach Rd, Hartford Rd, Lyn Ave and Hayley Grove, the Bay of Plenty Times reported.

The 13-year-old is too young to be charged, but the older teenager has been charged with 15 wilful damage offences, and one count of burglary, after he allegedly broke into a house to steal paint used in the tagging spree.

He is due to appear in Tauranga District Court on January 9.

Garry Rayner said he and his wife were woken just after 4am yesterday by noises outside their holiday home and spotted two young people tagging cars.

After phoning 111, he tracked their progress with a pair of binoculars and was able to direct police directly to the taggers' hiding place.

By that stage, Mr Rayner also discovered his holiday home had been extensively damaged -- the sixth time it had been hit since they built it 10 years ago.

"We work six days a week and come down here for a holiday break, not to be confronted by this sort of rubbish."

Another tagging victim, Mike Jefferies, said there were plans to circulate a warning flyer around the neighbourhood with a photo of the offenders.

Taggers should be "named and shamed", regardless of their age, he said.

"Next time there is any trouble, we will know who to visit."

- NZPA