Blacktown Council boosts reward program to stop vandals

RESIDENTS who dob in vandals could receive $5000 from Blacktown Council — if their information leads to a conviction. The council has doubled the reward money it previously offered in a bid to crackdown on vandalism.

Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali is offering a reward for anyone who identifies a vandal.

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BLACKTOWN Council has “declared war” on vandals as it ups the ante on a program to reward residents who dob in culprits — if their help leads to a conviction.

The council has increased the payout from its Vandalism Reporting Reward Program to a flat $5000, double the maximum reward previously handed out through the initiative.

Rewards ranged between $500 and $2500 for reporting vandals who damaged council-owned property, but that has been boosted to raise awareness of the program and deter potential offenders.

Blacktown Council spends $1 million per year cleaning up damaged property.

Councillor Mohinder Singh at last week’s ordinary council meeting said raising the reward could be critical to the program’s success.

“People were not taking it up because it was not worth the hassle,” he said.

Cr Singh said the new reward was “wonderful” and would help create a “graffiti-free city”.

There were 3290 reported instances of malicious damage to property in the Blacktown local government area in the 12 months to July 2018, data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research shows.

Councillor Moninder Singh with son Sumar Singh.

Since 2015 that crime category has fallen 3.9 per cent.

But Mayor Stephen Bali said the council still had a $1 million budget for repairing vandalism each year, and it was time it “declared war” on the culprits.

“$5000 is a lot of money to people,” he said. “It also means that people are less likely to do it (vandalism).

“It might get people thinking because everyone has a phone and everyone is a potential snoop.”

A derelict medical centre on Luxford Road, Mt Druitt.

Council property includes buildings, structures, vehicles, equipment, trees or shrubs.

The current scheme was introduced in 2012 but no residents have applied or received a reward under the program.

In a report, the council hoped that increasing the funds on offer and a significant promotion of the scheme would boost awareness, and help cut down costs associated with repairing vandalism across the area.

The council has set a cap of $50,000 in rewards per year for the program.

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