By Renee Wood
Healesville police are investigating illegal graffiti in the town and are proactively working to capture offenders.
Officer in Charge Sergeant Kirsty Swankie is urging local community members to come forward to report any occurrences they’ve seen.
“The sooner we know about it, the sooner we can start looking into our contacts and the way we can narrow things down as well. So the sooner we know about it, the better,” Sgt Swankie said.
Police will now be implementing a letter drop system which will see officers leave flyers at local residents and businesses in an area where graffiti has been reported or found.
The information on the flyer will ask residents to provide their contact details if they have seen any illegal behaviour surrounding graffiti.
It will also have information regarding a CCTV registry that collects a register of local cameras to allow police to contact camera owners.
“We have to have obviously their approval to put them on there and they can take it off anytime they like,” she said.
“So part of that letter drop will actually have a space for them to put their details and sign their approval, then email that back to us or drop it back.”
The registry makes it easier for police to map out where CCTV is in the local area so if an incident occurs, they can quickly locate cameras which may have captured evidence of a crime.
“If they didn’t want to be on that registry, but they wanted to just let us know privately, we’d be more than happy for them to do that as well.
“Having CCTV is fabulous, because it means we can keep witnesses out of it…working in small towns like this, CCTV, we can often see who it is and know who it is.”
Graffitti has been a growing issue and of concern for local residents and businesses for some time and police hope this letter drop will become a great tool in gathering evidence and reports to stamp out the illegal behaviour.
Sgt Swankie said officers are keen to work with the community proactively on this issue and requests reports are made to the station.
If the station is closed due to officers being out on a job, people can phone and leave a message or contact the Lilydale Police station who can then pass on the report to Healesville police.
“We are definitely here, we’re around and we want to nip this in the bud.
“If anyone has seen anything or has evidence for us, we will take it at any point. We can then assess what else we have and whether it’s enough to go forward.”
If you have any information about illegal graffiti in Healesville, please contact the station on (03) 5962 4422.
