Tag the taggers

By Shaun Inguanzo
THE GRAFFITI on the walls is black – but traders in Menzies Avenue are seeing red.
The Dandenong North traders are fed-up with a six-year onslaught of graffiti vandalism and are calling for police to step up night patrols and catch the culprits.
The furious traders say the epidemic is so bad that graffiti vandals are ready to strike as soon as they close their doors at the end of business.
Business owner Feim Tairi of Menzies Cellars said vandals attacked security roller doors on each shop, brick walls and anywhere else where there was a clean surface.
Mr Tairi said customers always commented on the ugly appearance of Menzies Avenue, and he felt the street’s appearance was deterring new customers from shopping there.
“Customers say it looks terrible every time they see it,” he said.
“On a Sunday a lot of the shops are closed and you can see more of it (on the roller shutters). People are thinking ‘gee, what is this?’ In the past they (the vandals) have graffitied the Meals on Wheels kitchen. People are constantly having to paint over graffiti across there.”
Lyndale Pharmacy assistant Stacey Purcell said the business had recently repainted their walls from maroon to blue to enhance its presence in the street.
But within two weeks of the fresh coat of paint, graffiti vandals had destroyed the wall.
“It plays a bit of an impact on our business because people look at it and tend to not to want to come in,” Ms Purcell said.
“I haven’t seen (the vandals), but a few of my friends living in the area said they have been driving past and seen people doing it who are aged only 15 or 16.”
Ms Purcell said the worst nights for graffiti vandals seemed to be Friday and Saturday.
Dandenong Police sergeant Nick Vallas said police would task Menzies Avenue in response to the traders’ concerns.
But he urged other traders to contact police immediately after any graffiti attack to ensure they could photograph the tags that could lead to the arrest of the vandals.
“We photograph the damage and it goes into a database,” Sgt Vallas said.
“Then the tag is used against them, as they tend to be linked to specific individuals.”
Sgt Vallas said he had lived in Dandenong for 30 years and had experienced the graffiti problem first hand after vandals spray painted his fence.
“But I still reported it and photographed it,” he said.