Call for graffiti app

Cr Meskauskas has called for ­council to sign up to the VandalTrak application available for smartphones, which instantly sends the location and photographic evidence to help police track down offenders. 

“It’s a weapon that is working ­elsewhere and we need to grasp it and implement it here as soon as possible,” Cr Meskauskas said.

Members of the public can take ­photos of graffiti when they see it and upload it to the VandalTrak online database where it is automatically logged by its location, catalogued by the traits of the tag and provided to police, council and other organisations such as Rotary clubs and utility companies.

Cr Meskauskas will ask for the ­support of council on Tuesday night.

He wants council to investigate the implication and the cost of the graffiti tracking app for Maitland.

“We need to be in there leading the way and getting others on board,” Cr Meskauskas said. “Maitland police have told me they’re in support of it.”

The Sydney Morning Herald ­reported the VandalTrak app had made big inroads on graffiti crime since the not-for-profit organisation launched it late last year.

Photos submitted by the public leapt from hundreds a month to 11,000 a month – or one every eight minutes during daylight hours – when the website released the app in October.

The police can use the photos to match similar works by a vandal when laying charges.

Cr Meskauskas said Rotary clubs and shop keepers in the West Ward were working hard to scrub out the illegal acts and deserved support.

“It’s another weapon in our arsenal.”