KEY POINTS:
Taggers beware: the Auckland City Council is exploring the possibility of suing you for damages once the criminal courts are finished with you.
Community services committee chairman Paul Goldsmith told the Herald the council would look to take civil court claims against anyone aged 18 or over who has been prosecuted for spray painting (tagging) around the city.
About 400 taggers have been arrested in the Greater Auckland area in the past year. In Auckland City, 31 have been nabbed since July 1.
Eight of Auckland's 10 most prolific taggers were included in the haul. They were apprehended with can in hand, through images captured by surveillance cameras or as a result of investigation and interview.
Now, Mr Goldsmith says, it is time to recoup the losses for some of the "mindless vandalism" caused by taggers.
"We don't hold the view that some people advance, that we need to find something else for these young people to do, or we need to hug them a bit more often or anything like that. Our view is there's no defence for it."
The council has a yearly budget of $1.8 million to combat and clean up tagging, about $11 for each of the city's 165,000 ratepayers. Almost $300,000 of that is dedicated to prevention.
Since July 1, the council has been operating an 0800 telephone line for Auckland residents looking to dob in a tagger.
The service is aimed squarely at finding the vandals, not getting the city cleaned up, Mr Goldsmith said. "You don't ring it if you see something on the wall that you want painted out.
"If you know there's a little brat down the road that you know is doing it... ring the line. If you know a mate who's doing it, dob them in."
Though civil actions would not work in all cases, it was a weapon that could be used strategically, Mr Goldsmith said.
"There are some [taggers] in their mid-20s, who come from professional families, who seem to think they have got a God-given right to go out and make a mess of the place.
"If we catch them, we wouldn't hesitate to sue them for damages."
Council graffiti officer Rob Shields says graffiti around Auckland City is at a 10-year low, and the $300,000 enforcement budget to stop taggers had been tripled.
Anti-tagger initiatives have received a boost since July, when the Summary Offences Act introduced community work sentences and fines of up to $2000 for taggers, and fines of up to $1500 for shopkeepers selling spray cans to under-18s.
Mr Shields says those arrested ranged from "a 9-year-old who tagged a bus shelter with a felt pen", to a repeat offender with more than 160 convictions.
But repeat taggers account for a maximum 30 per cent of those arrested, and at least 70 per cent of those convicted never returning to court, he said.
