Police staff clean up
Monday, 27 April, 2009
The Micklegate ward is scrubbing up nicely after police staff assisted the Safer Neighbourhood Team with a graffiti cleaning initiative last week (Thursday 23 April).
North Yorkshire Police staff joined forces with Neighbourhood Officers to remove graffiti in the Clementhorpe area of York
Tags and other markings were removed from walls, fences and parking meters around St Benedicts Road and from alleyways around Cherry Street near Clementhorpe Health Centre.
PC Kelly McTighe was pleased with the efforts of those involved. She said: "The exercise was very successful, the tags that were removed were some of the more noticeable ones, in some of the worst hit areas.
"It is very important to get involved in initiatives like this to show that we are willing to try everything to help our communities.
"We do these initiatives in response to feedback from our residents and I hope that this will encourage them to assist us in the future and give them a sense of pride in their community."
While graffiti is not a particular problem in the Micklegate ward it is becoming more noticeable in the area and the Safer Neighbourhood Team will be carrying out more work to deal with and prevent the graffiti from becoming more widespread.
PC McTigue appealed for the public's help to catch those responsible for the graffiti. She said: "It can be very time consuming and costly to remove the tags and it appears the taggers are moving around each area in turn.
"I would appeal to people to be vigilant and anyone who recognises the tags to get in touch with us as we really need help in identifying who these offenders are."
Anyone with information or who recognises the tags is urged to contact North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 24 7 and ask for the Micklegate Safer Neighbourhood Team.
Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.
