Taggy system to catch graffiti vandals

A powerful database is being used by police and council officials to crack down on graffiti in Hull.

Humberside Police and Hull City Council have joined forces to launch a campaign to tackle the issue which costs the authority £100,000 every year.

Hull Against Graffiti – a zero tolerance campaign – will be launched next month, with the hi-tech Taggy database playing a key role.

The database stores and track every graffiti image in the city, helping identify culprits.

It is already being used by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and council staff, including community wardens and housing officers who have all been given a digital cameras to take pictures of graffiti in their patch.

The images are uploaded on to the Taggy database which enables police to collate evidence against graffiti taggers.

Inspector Bill Grieves, of the East Neighbourhood Policing Team, said:

"Graffiti is a city-wide problem and this is the first time we are able to map the graffiti across the city.

"Before this multi-agency approach, there was no coordinated effort, which made mapping and tracking the graffiti hard.

"Graffiti is crime – it is not art. People do not want it. It is unsightly and increases the fear or crime.

"The database is crucial, because it will be able to provide hard evidence of this kind of activity over a period of time, leading to more prosecutions."

The database is made up of a series of files which includes the graffiti image and its name to link it to other similar tags.

The exact details of the graffiti location, materials used may also be filed.

A simple search of the database reveals where the graffiti hotspots are, the top ten most-common tags, how many images are uploaded each day or week, how many images there are in the city, whether it has been cleaned or not and which officers are uploading what.

The files can be used as evidence in court and will also be used by police visiting schools to try and track down young offenders.

The public are also being asked to play their part in the campaign by reporting incidents of graffiti.

A new website, www.hullagainstgraffiti.co.uk, which has been seen exclusively by the Mail is about to be launched to enable residents and businesses to give information anonymously about the identities of Hull's most high-profile taggers.

Residents can also use the website to request areas where graffiti should be cleaned up, and find out how much graffiti there is in their area.

The website will also advise residents on how not to become a victim and how to protect their property.

The information from the public website will be fed into the Taggy database and used to alert council staff which areas need a clean-up.

Inspector Grieves added: "The website is brilliant, it's really user friendly and will be a great help to us.

"There hasn't been a simplified way of reporting graffiti for authorities or residents.

"More needs to be done to identify offenders and problem areas that need cleaning up and that is what this website is about.

"People can report graffiti in total confidence.

"It is in everyone's best interest to inform us about graffiti in their area to allow us to record and investigate it.

"Its the taxpayer who is paying for it to be cleaned up which is why we need to prevent it."

Councillors are expected to get a preview of the campaign at a meeting at the Guildhall this Thursday.