Blacktown "state's graffiti capital"



BLACKTOWN local government area is the state’s malicious damage hotspot, recording the most incidents in the past 12 months of any area in the state.
While the latest statistics from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research show crime is on the way down in Blacktown, The Hills and Hawkesbury, Blacktown still recorded 5218 malicious damage incidents, a nine per cent decline over the previous year.
Blacktown councillor Nick Tyrrell, who launched the Tag-Free Streets campaign on Facebook earlier this year to combat the scourge of graffiti, said residents needed to remain vigilant in reporting graffiti.
“It’s encouraging to note that recorded incidents of malicious damage in Blacktown fell at the same rate as the NSW average over the last two years, but it’s just not good enough,” he said.
“I’m worried that the figures may not represent actual incidents, and that the long-suffering people of Blacktown may have just given up reporting graffiti because it’s so prevalent.”
Over the past 12 months, Hills Shire residents have seen a decline in indecent assaults (down 44.7 per cent), steal from person (down 33.3 per cent), home break and enters (down 22.7 per cent), malicious damage (down 16.9 per cent) and steal from a motor vehicle (down 13.8 per cent).
In Hawkesbury, there has been a 31.5 per cent decline in home break and enters, a 30.1 per cent decline in malicious damage and an 18.5 per cent decline in stealing from homes. 


Taken from: Rouse Hill Times


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