Schools help hunt for graffiti culprits

Graffiti tags, or signature designs sprayed on walls and other private and public property, will be photographed and taken into schools to identify those responsible, a top West Bromwich police officer has warned.

Inspector Gill Munslow said she is hoping youngsters will help track down the vandals littering the town's streets with eyesore paintings. The evidence will then be taken around schools in the town and children asked if they can identify who is behind the scrawls.

"I'm looking at officers taking photographs of tags and I'm suggesting officers photograph these tags and put them in a folder," she said.

"What we are going to be doing with the albums is putting them in schools asking pupils if they recognise the signatures."

Around £65,000 of taxpayers' money in Sandwell was used to clear away graffiti daubed over walls and buildings in just a year.

Council chiefs were forced to use the cash to wash away the scribble created by vandals instead of putting it towards improving services for their residents.

And in November a £4,000 graffiti blitz was launched as part of a project to transform vandal-hit areas and clean away unsightly fly posters.

As part of the crackdown specialist anti-graffiti and anti-fly poster coating was applied to 100 metal roadside boxes containing electronics used to power traffic lights and water systems.

Insp Munslow has told West Bromwich Town Committee of the progress police are making in reducing crime in the area.

She said there were 622 less victims of crime in North Sandwell last year – with 472 of them from West Bromwich.

However, criminal damage has increased, accounting for 25 per cent of recorded crime in the area.

Insp Munslow, said: "We weren't able to achieve our target for reducing most serious violence, but that's something we are going to work on.

"We have had such an increase in criminal damage and it has been hard to try and pinpoint offenders."

The town, however, is also exceeding Home Office guidelines for detecting crimes.

"While the Home Office states 27 per cent of crime should be detected in North Sandwell this was 31.25 per cent last year.