Sunday, March 15, 2009

Is all graffiti being reported?

About six months ago, I discovered that not all government agencies report graffiti in the same way.  Schools appear to report almost all graffiti, but I am not sure about other arms of government.  I wrote last week to the Minister for Energy, Ian Macdonald, to ask him about how Energy Australia goes about reporting graffiti to the Police.

My concern is that if they aren't reporting it, then we don't have a complete picture of graffiti on public assets.  If Police arrest and charge a culprit, they may charge them with only a tiny percentage of the offences that they have actually committed, because lazy authorities have not provided the Police with a complete picture of their graffiti situation.

Once I get a response from Ian Macdonald, I am going to ask some other ministers about how the agencies in their portfolios go about reporting graffiti.  I made sure in this instance to list most of the reports that I have made, and then asked for a COPS event number for each instance.  If Energy Australia have a COPS event number, then it's been reported properly.  If they don't........


6 March 2009

The Hon. Ian Macdonald
Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Energy, Minister for Mineral Resources, Minister for State Development
Level 33
Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
SYDNEY NSW 2000


Dear Mr Macdonald

Energy Australia – graffiti reporting policy

As you may be aware the Attorney General’s Department runs an Anti-graffiti action team, of which Energy Australia is a member.

It has come to my attention that not all government authorities are reporting graffiti to the Police, even though this is strongly recommended by the Attorney General’s Department, and is plain common sense.

I have reported a number of instances of graffiti to Energy Australia over the past 9 months.  I want to be assured that as well as removing the graffiti, Energy Australia are reporting each incident to the Police for recording in the COPS database.

I have attached a list of Energy Australia case numbers, each referring to a report of graffiti that I have made to Energy Australia via telephone.  In all cases, the graffiti has been removed.  However, what I want to see is the COPS Event Number for each case, and the date each report to the Police was made.  

Please arrange for Energy Australia to provide this information to me.

If Energy Australia has not been reporting graffiti to the Police, then I would like you to explain how a failure to report fits in with the government’s anti-graffiti stance.

Yours sincerely

Kiosk Energy Australia reference number
k2051 REF 500064083
3219 REF 500064084
2829 REF 500064085
3599 REF 500064086
K1573 REF 500064087
4854 REF 500064088

50062885
50062886
50062887
50062888
50062889
50062890
50062892
50062893
50062894
50062896
50062897
500059339
500058754 
500058755
500058559
500058369
500058396
50003897
50003898
500058348
500058373
5000583470
500058371
500058372

Substation 3219 Ref 500058614
Substation k2051 Ref 500058615
Substation cp228 Ref 500058616
Substation at manning & springside Ref 500058617
Substation 4082 Ref 500058618
Substation 2178 Ref 500058619
Substation at Barnstaple & Trevanion Ref 500058630

No comments: