Vandals to cop a spray

(Police Life Magazine) Circulation 13,000 members.  
 

While some defend it as art, for most people graffiti is unsightly, impacting on community perceptions of safety. A new device is helping to wipe the city’s slate clean. By Chelsea Arnold 
 

Technology is being used by police across the state catching vandals tagging the city’s landmarks and public spaces with graffiti. 
Sergeant Liam Sherman of the Melbourne Regional Response Unit (RRU) heads the Graffiti Taskforce, formed in February to clean-up Melbourne’s alleyways and cityscapes in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games. 
The RRU is among the first in Victoria to adopt a rapid apprehension device which is capable of capturing images of graffiti artists in the act or vandals behaving anti-socially. 
“We first used the Tripwire technology earlier this year and found the results to be excellent,” Sgt Sherman said. 
In the past few months, police have arrested more than 40 people in relation to graffiti offences in the Melbourne CBD. 
The Tripwire device, created in Melbourne, is a small self-powered unit which detects heat and motion to within 30 metres. 
After it is switched on and placed in a covert location and detects motion, it immediately takes one to five images and sends them to pre-determined handsets and email addresses along with specific text relevant to that unit or site. The alerts come through within 30-45 seconds allowing for a quick police response. 
“Tripwire is great for intelligence gathering, in terms of finding out who the offenders are, how many of them there are and what time they are committing offences,” Sgt Sherman said.” We decide whether to monitor or immediately respond” 
“Graffiti costs ratepayers so much money each year. Not to mention the fact that the place looks like a ghetto. There are a lot of ramifications. It impacts on the public’s perception of safety. 
“This technology doesn’t just help in the fight against graffiti but it can have a number of different benefits for police when performing surveillance. You don’t actually need to have a police member present, you can have these set up, getting images from multiple sites instead.” 
David Black of Tripwire said the units give police and others the power to be able to monitor remotely for any concerning situation that may be occurring. 
“Whether one unit or 40 units are deployed, it allows them to be able to monitor each laneway, asset, doorway or public space with a view to being able to respond and deal with the situation as it occurs and not after the fact,” Mr Black said. 
“Closed circuit television has its place but the development of the Tripwire system was to give back the power to police to allow them to attend or at least monitor suspect behaviour as it happens or before.” 
The device can be used to remotely monitor graffiti, drug use and trafficking, vandalism, theft from infrastructure assets, public transport surveillance, school vandalism, theft and protection of assets and infrastructure. 
Sgt Sherman said typically vandals ranged in age from 16 to 36. 
“Some are just not happy kids, some regard this as art and beautification of the city, while some see as being a way to get some kind of recognition.” 
After an extensive trial periods, Tripwire’s are being used in Stonnington, Geelong, Prahran and Melbourne with a further 9 cities deploying units in July along with users in Rail, Infrastructure and the education sectors.

“We couple the units with free training in their use and dealing with graffiti issues from our years of experience in this arena.” 
Further information can be obtained by contacting the Melbourne branch on 1800 722 722 or visiting the website. www.tripwiresystems.com .