In the final part of our series on graffiti, reporter DEAN PIPER talks to one resident who feels the borough is plagued by the problem and to the police inspector in charge of clamping down on this crime.

Wrythe Lane resident Sharon Reilly says she is sick to death of living with graffiti. She thinks it is making the borough look like a poor, unsafe and deprived area.

"Everywhere you go in Sutton you see graffiti. It's disgusting and I can't stand it," she declared. "I think it looks unsightly and makes the area look scummy - and Sutton isn't a deprived area."

Mum Sharon has complained constantly to the council and police and has even been known to leap on graffiti offenders and warn them to stop vandalising the area.

"I have complained to the police but they have not come out to arrest or warn youngsters who spray graffiti. I once caught a youth vandalising a wall and grabbed him and said I would not tell his parents about his graffiti if he told me the name of ten other vandals. He did tell me, but I didn't hand the names to police because at the end of the day, what will they do?"

Sharon feels so strongly about the scourge of graffiti she isn't persuaded with arguments of graffiti vandal-turned-artist Darren Cullen who was featured in the Comet two weeks ago. He believes young people should be educated on the rights and wrongs of graffiti.

She says: "I don't think educating them is right at all. It's like telling them what they have been doing is okay. At the end of the day you have to get these youths interested in something else.

"I don't even think we should see graffiti murals on shop fronts to be honest. If kids see it, they think it's fine to do it. These sort of murals should be out of sight, not in full view."

Like her mum, Sharon's eight-year-old daughter Charlotte, a pupil at Muschamp Primary School in Carshalton, thinks graffiti is a disgrace. She tells me that if she ever caught her own daughter spraying graffiti she would punish her. She would be made to scrub it off and grounded for a long time.

Sharon is quick with an answer when it came to asking her how she thought the borough could be rid of the problem.

"The sale of spray paints in shops to under 16s should be stopped somebody needs to start implementing a way of warning off the kids. Even if we could halve the amount of graffiti, it would be better than nothing. These offenders need to be charged and fined."

In a strong statement to her fellow residents in the borough, Sharon urged everyone to get serious about clearing graffiti permanently from Sutton.

"People in Sutton should not be afraid to voice their opinions to the council, the police or their housing associations. The more people voicing their opinions, the more action might be taken."

The council spends £80,000 a year on cleaning off graffiti. But what exactly are the police doing? And are they listening to the public opinion?

Newly appointed Chief Inspector Warren Shadbolt wants to make sure residents in Sutton realise the police are clamping down on the problem.

"The issue with graffiti is it creates an opinion of crime and depravation but in fact the reality is Sutton is a safe place. Graffiti is a criminal offence and the people doing it are causing criminal damage.

"People can receive prison sentences of several years."

It is not just adults who are punished either. Two youth offenders in Sutton are currently paying off fines of more than £1,000 each. A criminal record can play havoc to any offender's life no matter what the crime, as the Chief Inspector explained.

"The message to potential offenders is don't be tagged for life. If you get a criminal record it can prevent you getting employment," he said. Some of these offenders think tagging has a fairly low risk if caught, but it is considered like any other crime and will lead to people getting a criminal record."

Parents also have a duty to be aware of what their child gets up to.

"How sure are parents their children are not involved in graffiti?" he says.

The police chief also explains just how much graffiti crimes cost the borough.

"A hundred arrests on buses including a large number connected to graffiti have gone to court this year.

"The cost of taking these cases through the courts is huge and frankly we would rather spend our time with the public than chasing people tagging buses and walls.

"But if you take the cost of taking 100 individuals to court, it means the actual cost of graffiti to our borough is hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"We would ask shopkeepers to be more careful about selling spray paints."

CCTV cameras have not always been effective in catching vandals in the past. Poor lighting and shrubbery have made it difficult to spot the culprits on tape. And on estates, such as Durand Close, the cameras have been ripped down, smashed or vandalised.

But the Chief Insp Shadbolt has one final warning for vandals in Sutton. "Don't assume it is only the CCTV cameras you see which are there some are hidden."

So over the last three weeks we have heard from a graffiti artist, the man behind cleaning up the mess, the man trying to prevent the mess, a police chief and an angry resident.

But what has been learnt? Overall it may seem there are a number of differing perspectives within Sutton's community.

However, things are slowly but surely changing as the police and the council work together as one.

Sutton Council's housing and regeneration department is working towards a clear future where graffiti is not a problem and tags disappear.

But it still doesn't change the fact that the 2001 MORI poll released this week will reveal 44 per cent of Sutton residents think graffiti is a problem. The council wants to reduce this figure by 2005 to 36 per cent.

The problem may not be eradicated immediately, but let us hope the scourge of illegal graffiti doesn't spread so much out of control that one day this type of vandalism goes unquestioned.

December 20, 2001 12:30