‘Graffiti’ means defacing any surface (by writing, drawing, scribbling, scratching, spraying or sticking anything on it) without the permission of the owner of that surface. It is an act of criminal damage, and sometimes, offenders may also commit the crime of trespassing in order to do their graffiti.

Unfortunately, it is the owner’s responsibility to remove or cover graffiti (or pay for it to be removed or covered) if it can be seen by the public.

You may have noticed that a few local offenders are defacing the street furniture and the footpath fences and walls of Barrow (and surrounding villages) with their graffiti ‘tags’ (scribbled or sprayed signatures or stickers). The photo is an example and have not been taken in Barrow. On the other hand, you may not have noticed because the tags are being removed, as quickly as possible, by the owners of many of the defaced surfaces, namely our Parish, Borough and County councils. The councils know from experience that it is easier to remove graffiti before it has had a chance to dry; that leaving graffiti tends to attract more graffiti and that the offenders time and energy will be wasted if their vandalism is removed before anyone sees it.

Obviously, cleaning off or covering up these tags takes time and effort which costs money. Lots of money. Nationally, it is estimated that removing graffiti from vandalised surfaces costs the owners (i.e. private individuals, councils, public services, private businesses and companies) millions of pounds a year. Unfortunately, offenders are rarely identified to the police, charged and convicted. Therefore, most of them do not pay for their crime(s) in any way.

However, if convicted (under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, section 1) offenders can be punished with a community service order and/or an unlimited fine (of up to £2,500 for a first offence) and/or imprisonment (of up to 10 years, although the maximum term for 12 to 17-year-olds is 24 months of detention). Section 6 of this Act also allows the police (with appropriate authorisation such as a court warrant) to search the home of suspected offenders and access their personal computer/mobile phone content Additionally, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, section 43 gives local authorities and the police the power to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice of £150 if the defacement is witnessed by an authorised officer. Also, under section 54 of this Act, it is an offence for shopkeepers to sell aerosol spray-paint to people under the age of 16. If they do this, they can be fined up to £2,500.

If you are concerned about this graffiti-tag crime in our village and surrounding areas, you can help to prevent it by reporting it: 
• If you know the offender, you can report them confidentially to Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org
• If you see it happening, report it to the police by phoning 101 and give a description of the offender(s): gender, age, height, clothes/footwear, bag, hair, glasses etc.

otherwise, report it to:
The local police: PC 4086 Martin Hocking (Charnwood North Team based in Loughborough) Martin.Hocking@leics.police.uk (please quote reference number 22000466886), and Charnwood Borough Council: on-line form charnwood.gov.uk/pages/graffiti or phone 01509 634563, and The owner (if this is not Charnwood Borough Council):                
                                                                                                  
Stress the importance of a quick clean-up/cover-up, and maybe offer to help! If you can, gather evidence: ask around if anyone saw and/or knows the offenders; Look for any CCTV, security camera or dash-camera images; take a photo or sketch (one close up of the tag and one to show the location), and add the time and date taken. Take or send your evidence to the police and Charnwood Borough Council (for their databases) so that a history of offences can be built up and, if necessary, used as evidence in court.

Graffiti practice walls/boards are largely ineffective and draw more vandals to the area. The King George V playground had its graffiti board taken out because the graffiti was deemed unsuitable.

Further reading:
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/messy-graffiti-tags-blighting-leicesters-2936583