WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE GRAFFITI
Conservative city councillors Anne Saunders and Eileen Berry and local resident Richard Worrall today wrote to Winchester's senior police officer asking what her officers were doing to apprehend graffiti vandals who are blighting large parts of the city with spray cans.
The city councillors have received calls from local people concerned about the so called graffiti artists who have daubed spray paint on fences, garages doors, walls and homes in a serious outbreak of the crime across the city.
Many areas have fallen prey to the damage, including the city centre, Durngate, St Cross, Oram's Arbour and Fulflood. Mrs Saunders and Mrs Berry said many people had had enough and called on Acting Inspector Annabel Berry to make sure everything is done to catch the culprits.
Thankfully in the past Winchester has suffered very little of this anti-social crime but lately it has started to get out of control,? said Anne.
Many areas of the city centre, including parts of the High Street, railways bridges, street names and even a Welcome to Winchester sign have all been daubed and it's time the police starting to say publicly what they are going to do about it.
Winchester is a tourist destination that attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. A city sinking under a sea of graffiti is not the best advertisement and literally paints the area in a very bad light.
It might not seem to be a major crime and I am aware the police have many important priorities, but many studies show that when small scale crime is allowed to flourish, more serious offences surely follow.?
Cllr Anne Saunders, Cllr Eileen Berry & Richard Worrall