Graffiti battle moves into the digital age

Gold Coast authorities are turning to the same digital technologies popular with graffiti offenders to help reduce a yearly graffiti removal bill in the millions.

City of Gold Coast Senior Community Safety Officer Anna Rainbow said council launched a mobile phone graffiti-reporting app last month to reduce their $1 million removal costs.

“In the first three weeks of launching the app it was downloaded 3143 times and has been used to report 1425 graffiti incidents,” Ms Rainbow said.

“We also run a range of preventative programs including adult and youth offender removal programs, graffiti prevention murals and education modules for schools.

“Council adheres to a rapid graffiti removal policy and strives to action all reports as quickly as possible,” she said.

 

Graffiti on a private structure on Nerang-Broadbeach Road in Nerang

Graffiti on directional signage at Nerang Railway Station

Graffiti on a Pacific Motorway noise barrier between Exits 82 and 85 in Reedy Creek

Graffiti around the Gold Coast on private and public structures

Transport and Main Roads Principal Project Officer Peter Harrison said state government agencies are working together to remove graffiti from roadside infrastructure.

“The department has an arrangement with Corrective Services where offenders remove graffiti while working off their community service sentences,” Mr Harrison said.

“We’re also sending hot spot locations to Queensland Police using GPS and photos on our mobile phones and providing camera towers for monitoring operations.

“Our policy is to remove offensive graffiti within 24hrs of being reported, seven days for highly visible and about one month for others.

“There was a four month period of zero tolerance where we removed graffiti as soon as it was reported and it cost about $700,000,” he said.

 

Graffiti on a Pacific Motorway noise barrier at Exit 71 in Nerang

Graffiti on a Pacific Motorway noise barrier at Exit 92 in Palm Beach

Graffiti painted out on a 200m Pacific Motorway noise barrier between Exits 82 and 85 in Reedy Creek

The entire section of the Pacific Motorway is routinely vandalised

Community-based organisation Phantast Cultural Music & Arts Association Inc. has had some success in preventing graffiti by painting murals on roadside highway noise barriers and retaining walls.

Phantast President and Master Artist June Hintz said the peak age of a graffitist is either 13 or 17 years – ages highly familiar with digital technologies such as smart phones and social media.

“The technology for smart phones has seen benefit with graffitists, and the crime is being aided by social networking sites where graffiti artists can network relatively undetected,” Ms Hintz said.

“Young graffitists use Google Earth to find safe places which have limited CCTV coverage such as road corridors that are easier to attack than traditional rail yards.

“They are using software programs to remove automatic GPS traces included on most smart phone photos as well as do-not-track apps that stop Facebook and chat sites leaving ‘scars’.

“The option of using internet on the go and unlimited mobile broadband deals make it affordable and convenient for users to access the internet on their smart phones, upload and post photos worldwide,” she said.

Phantast targets graffiti individuals and crews, and engages offenders to make reparation for their offences as part of their rehabilitation.

The organisation has developed a program to map tags and their frequency on GIS to measure and study program impacts, gang trends and evidence of success.

 

Telstra substation mural on Nerang-Broadbeach Road in Nerang

Phantast’s light horse mural on the Pacific Motorway at Exit 82 in Robina

Phantast mural on a 150m retaining wall on the Gold Coast Highway in Labrador

A sample of Phantast’s murals (see further works)

In the battle against graffiti and vandalism the offenders themselves are helping authorities identify them as they post videos to social media sites in their efforts for peer recognition.

Queensland Police charged seven people in relation to graffiti damage carried out on Queensland Rail structures during the January 2011 floods as a result of videos posted to  YouTube.

Spotlight on Phantast

Phantast Cultural Music & Arts Association Inc. is on a mission to engage the Gold Coast community in cultural development, aiming to improve the social, emotional and future outcomes of vulnerable young people.

The Beenleigh based not-for-profit community organisation started in the early 1990s and has been beautifying South East Queensland’s roadsides ever since.

Phantast Master Painter and President June Hintz said that young people are associated with a great many incidents of vandalism and graffiti.

“One in four children aged 9 to 16 years admitted at least one public offence of graffiti in 2011,” Ms Hintz said.

“The peak age of a graffitist is either 13 or 17, with 70% of those being excluded from school.

“Although it is only about 200 individuals that cause the majority of graffiti vandalism sprees in South East Queensland.

“These young people will not necessarily just live in the region, they come from across the state and interstate,” she said.

The organisation runs a variety of programs that focus on supporting disadvantaged youth by having them participate in alternative recreational pursuits such as music, art, fashion, dance and the Hip Hop subculture.

Ms Hintz said that Phantast has a good understanding of the factors that motivate individuals to commit illegal activities.

“We have a proven record of involving the business community, community organisations, individual residents and youth at the community level to address graffiti.

“Participation in Phantast programs has proven to result in positive improvements in social-cognitive skills, thinking styles and reduced criminal attitudes,” Ms Hintz said.

Graffiti is a crime of wilful damage that perpetuates feelings of a dangerous and uncared-for community, generating the perception of increased crime and fear of neighbourhood gang activities.

Phantast focuses on promoting community ownership of state-owned assets whilst reducing graffiti through a proven graffiti management framework of personal casework to fix the issues motivating the graffitist to tag.

Built on the philosophy that exposure to the arts is a powerful force for social change, Phantast replaces vandalism with community art, encouraging creative entrepreneurship as a productive and life-changing opportunity.

Phantast’s iconic 2011 Broadwater mural painted on a 150 metre concrete retaining wall barrier on the Gold Coast Highway in Labrador.

A poignant scene from Phantast’s light horse mural at Robina

Phantast artist painting the light horse mural

Phantast’s Pacific Motorway light horse mural

Phantast’s light horse mural

Phantast’s Pacific Motorway light horse mural at Exit 82 in Robina (looking north)

Phantast’s Pacific Motorway light horse mural at Exit 82 in Robina (looking south)

Phantast’s recently completed light horse mural painted on the Pacific Motorway noise barrier at Exit 82 in Robina.

These examples have lessened graffiti tagging, reduced removal costs over the medium and longer terms, and have increased the lifecycle management of roadside infrastructure.

Phantast has twice been awarded Australia Day Awards:

• Best Community Group on the Gold Coast for eradication of graffiti in 1999-2000
• Good Neighbour in Logan City 2011

For more information visit Phantast’s website at www.phantast.org.au.

Spotlight on June Hintz

Master Artist and President of Phantast Cultural Music & Arts Association Inc. June Hintz’s passion for street art saw her found the organisation that has helped countless youths overcome antisocial and criminal behaviour.

Ms Hintz’s story begins in the late 1970s when she was a spray artist muralling panel wagons and cars on the Gold Coast out of a Burleigh panel-beaters.

She has been a street artist herself since the 1980s, and is an internationally collected artist, preparing visuals for Disney Studios and working on many events leading community art campaigns such as Expo 88, Sydney Olympics, Channel 9, Brisbane Festival and Big Day Out.

Ms Hintz holds a Diploma of Visual Arts and Cert IV in Graphic Art.

As an international authority on graffiti offender rehabilitation, Ms Hintz has been published in over 200 journal articles and book chapters, been the principal investigator in 18 extra-mural research grants, and has been highlighted in over 200 invited presentations in 25 countries.

Ms Hintz is also a trained Medical Officer Class 4 and a qualified Art Psychotherapist Clinical Specialist.

Her extensive experience as a Neuro Linguist Programming Practitioner is critical in working with antisocial individuals relating to drug and alcohol abuse, violence, mental disorders, and adolescent offenders.

In addition, she is a qualified Workplace Assessor Cert III and IV as well as a Registered Training Officer.

Ms Hintz was awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia in January 2001 and Pride of Australia Medal for her work with antisocial adolescents in September 2010.

Master Artist and President of Phantast June Hintz (courtesy of Courier Mail 10/09/2010)

Coast resident features on Light Horse mural

A mural dedicated to Australia’s Light Horsemen and featuring a Gold Coast soldier was completed this month on a new noise barrier located on the Pacific Motorway at Robina.

Painted by Phantast Cultural Music & Arts Association Inc. in an effort to deter graffiti, the mural is a timely reminder of the upcoming 2015 ANZAC Centenary.

The mural features one of the Gold Coast’s own – Private Robert Alexander Cormack – who served in the Australian Army in World War II.

Private Cormack’s son Russell said he was amazed at the likeness of his father’s image.

“I drive past the noise barrier every day and knew it was him straight away,” Mr Cormack said.

“I was so amazed and moved to see him up there, I had to stop and take pictures.

“When I found out the theme of the mural I sent dad’s picture to Phantast, but didn’t expect that he would feature so prominently.

“It is just incredibly moving,” he said.

Private Robert Cormack 1920-1978 courtesy of Mr Russell Cormack

Private Robert Cormack’s larger-than-life image on the Pacific Motorway mural at Robina (Exit 82)

Private Robert Cormack’s WWII service record courtesy of Mr Russell Cormack

The life of Private Robert Cormack:

• Born 1 October 1920 in Coolangatta
• Enlisted at age 22
• Served in the Middle East and at the Western Front in WWII
• Contracted the mumps and was transported back to Australia on a hospital ship, returning to the Gold Coast in April 1946
• Maternal grandfather arrived in Germany circa 1890 and selected 300 acres at Mudgeeraba, building a house that still stands on Mudgeeraba Showgrounds and is currently being used by the Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum
• Mother was a school teacher at Mudgeeraba School
• Had four brothers and two sisters, with two siblings still alive today and living in the area
• Farming history:
  • Dairy farming in 1928 where Somerset College now stands
  • Dairy farming at Currumbin Valley (near today’s Eco Village) where the young Cormack would help hand-milk 80+ cows morning and night
  • Banana plantation on Piggabeen Road in 1959, sold in 1972
• Married in 1948 in Tweed Heads and settled in Currumbin with three sons – Robert, Barry and Russell
• Private Cormack passed away in 1978 aged 57