Delinquent youths ramp up graffiti attacks amid citywide virus lockdown
Bored teens stuck at home have been caught on secret cameras sneaking out to tag buildings and smoke bongs at public libraries in Melbourne’s north as the coronavirus lockdown sends them stir-crazy.
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Stir crazy delinquents staying at home amid Melbourne’s lockdown are sneaking out and defacing buildings across Nillumbik with paint, a graffiti removal specialist has warned.
Nillumbik Council’s contractor, who could not be named for safety reasons, said they had seen a spike in attacks across Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek and Eltham in the past week.
Groups of teenagers were captured blasting paint up to seven metres high on a social services building in Diamond Creek, while vandals also caused $700 damage at a nearby skate park at the weekend.
Youths aged between 13-15 were even caught smoking bongs while graffitiing at the Eltham library precinct in 20 separate incidents last month.
WHILE NOT ALL CHILDREN CAPTURED ON CAMERA HAVE BEEN CAUGHT BY POLICE, THE CONTRACTOR SAYS CAMERAS HAVE BEEN VERY EFFECTIVE IN LEADING TO ARRESTS.
“We have undetectable cameras buried underground, they’ve got night vision, it’s a live feed and is monitored 24/7,” the contractor warned.
“Often we call police right away and can see the arrests take place on our screens.”
The cameras, priced between $3000-$6000, were set up at 10 hot spots throughout Nillumbik and rotated to catch culprits in the act.
“Recently we’ve seen youths … sneak out around 2am and walk around with … bags of paints — this is something we haven’t seen in 11 years,” the contractor said.
Delinquent youths tagging and defacing public property has forced the council to fork out $434,000 in clean-up and surveillance fees over the past three years.
Trains, bus shelters, public toilets, schools, playgrounds and public art were among the worst hit.
Cr Peter Clarke warned offenders would be caught in the act and forced to explain their actions in the magistrate’s court.
“This is $434,000 I would prefer the council don’t spend, but we must,” he said.
“We have not been blessed with what you’d call street art — it’s tagging, destruction of signage and impact on public amenity.
“We must ensure young people who have gone off the straight and narrow for whatever reason are assisted in understanding the error of their ways and brought back into mainstream society.”
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Cr Peter Perkins said footage from the council’s surveillance cameras often led to prosecution.
“We have had a number of successful prosecutions,” he said.
“Our current contractors manages to keep an eye on these clowns and see where they are, see if they’re currently in jail, which some of them have been put in jail through our contractor’s efforts with police and knowledge of the spots they’re going to hit next.”