Sunday Telegraph 29.10.06
GRAFFITI gangs are spraying 1200 tags a day on Sydney's trains in a vandalism spree costing taxpayers $15 million a year to clean up.
Official figures show there are 30,000-50,000 graffiti attacks removed from CityRail trains every month.
The attacks have continued despite costly measures introduced by the State Government, including a new rail vandalism task force, stronger graffiti-removal chemicals and surveillance cameras on the rail network.
The extensive graffiti damage has triggered calls by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union for the Government to publicly name and shame offenders.
Vandals are also slashing seats and breaking windows on trains with data showing that, in August alone, 1043 train seats were damaged and 245 windows broken.
"It's unfortunate that a few bad individuals spoil the hard work of rail cleaning staff for the million people who use CityRail per day,'' a RailCorp spokesman said.
"Vandalism on and around trains is dangerous, unsightly and expensive, costing taxpayers around $15 million a year to clean up.''
Surveillance footage shows that some offenders spraying graffiti on trains are as young as 12. Union president Nick Lewocki said teenagers who attacked the rail system with graffiti were usually part of a gang.
"We've seen CCTV footage where some kids look to be 12 years of age. They are generally in the 14 to 18 bracket,'' he said.
While Mr Lewocki sympathised with the Government in the difficulty of controlling graffiti artists, he said high-level security would help act as a deterrent.
"The Government should name and shame offenders. They (offenders) should be required to clean their graffiti up,'' he said.
"The Government should look at increasing penalties for people convicted of defacing public transport.''
Psychologists and police should also look at other ways to stop people spraying graffiti on trains to save taxpayers millions of dollars.
Premier Morris Iemma set up a rail vandalism task force in May where police and RailCorp transit officers work together to crack down on graffiti and vandalism.
While the Government is strengthening its response to vandalism on trains, with a rollout of 6200 CCTV cameras planned, the issue of graffiti has become a problem in the wider community.
Federal Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull said there had been an increase of graffiti and malicious damage in the eastern suburbs.
He said police were powerless to punish graffiti offenders if they were under the age of 18.
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