Graffiti Prevention

It is often possible to prevent graffiti by taking a few simple measures. Physical barriers, improved lighting or restricted access will discourage most people. It is key to clear the graffiti as soon as it appears as one tag will always attract more.

There are more comprehensive solutions including a number of sacrificial and permanent coatings that protect the underlying surface, CCTV and regular surveillance, anti climb paint and prosecution.

Education is vital to effective graffiti prevention. It is key to educate in the schools as well as community members and leaders about the impact of graffiti vandalism, how it can be prevented, and how everyone can do their part to help.

Physical Prevention

It is important to remember that daubing graffiti is criminal damage. It is too expensive for an individual to prosecute an offender and too dangerous to attempt to catch them. Councils can pool the resources of various services to help secure successful prosecutions and provide effective preventative measures. However there are several physical things that can be done to discourage graffiti taggers. The idea is to prevent, restrict or discourage access to large clean surfaces that are one colour.

Research shows by not removing graffiti, it will attract more graffiti. It also shows that clearing graffiti as soon as it appears and restricting access to the surface will prevent any reoccurrence. This research is endorsed by all Councils.

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For high level graffiti make sure that the access to the roof is restricted to authorised people only and prevent climbing the walls from yours and any neighbour's roof using anti climb paint and physical barriers.

In communal areas always restrict access for the general public to hours that the area is busy and use keys to access the area at other times. If this is not possible then the area should be well lit and in extreme cases CCTV and regular surveillance used.