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Name That Tag gathers pace

Northumbria Police

19 February 2009


Reward offered to identify vandals
A Police initiative to help identify the criminals behind graffiti tags is proving successful.
Posters have been put up around Westerhope and Denton in the Outer West area, offering a £50 reward to people who can identify which vandals are behind three different tags.
Anyone who can give information to the police which leads to the arrest of the offender will be given the reward.
The Outer West Neighbourhood Policing team joined forces with Safe Newcastle through the Safe Neighbourhoods Action and Problem Solving (SNAPS) group to offer the reward.
The first posters went out in December and resulted in intelligence being passed on to the neighbourhood team, which they are investigating.
But the biggest impact has been the reduction in graffiti over the past six weeks. The team is now putting up a second batch of posters in a bid to identify the culprits behind three new tags.
Neighbourhood Inspector Jan Harrison said: "The scheme has been successful so far, and we've had virtually no graffiti over recent weeks.
"It's another way for us to not only find the culprits of offences which have already taken place, but to prevent people from doing it in the first place.
"We're now changing the tags on the posters to try to gather more intelligence and identify the vandals. Although these people may think they're doing no harm they are actually making the area where they live look unsightly and unpleasant and it amounts to criminal damage.
"This is something that has an affect not only on individuals who have their property defaced but also the wider community. We've worked really hard with our partners to combat criminal damage and so far this year it has reduced more than 9%, with 81 fewer offences."
Anyone with information about the tags is asked to contact the Neighbourhood team on 03456 043 043 ext 69191 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.