It was a graffiti tag sprayed over and over again throughout St. Catharines on private and public properties and public utilities.

But Niagara Regional Police said of the 134 locations tagged with 'huer' over a two-year period, only 15 were reported to police.

Insp. Marco Giannico said graffiti is an under-reported crime.

"Report these incidents," he said, speaking at the St. Catharines city council meeting this week, adding people can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously. "We encourage that that information is shared with police."

Council was discussing a recent increase in graffiti which has hit downtown particularly hard.

Giannico said police do take the crime seriously. He said there's an emphasis on officers walking the beat and on engaging with residents and business owners to identify and address issues of concern.

Police also send mobile or foot patrols to areas prone to incidents.

But police need to know where those areas are located.

"That's one of the important aspects of reporting these crimes so we're aware of it," Giannico said. "Our crime analyst can identify some of the hot spots and I'm able or my supervisors are able to deploy officers in those areas."

A city staff report to council said the municipality received 151 complaints about graffiti in 2019 and 108 complaints in 2018. That was up substantially from previous years, when there were 26 complaints in 2017 and 39 in 2016.

By contrast, the NRP only received reports of 53 incidents of graffiti in St. Catharines in 2019.

To fill in the gap in reporting, council passed a motion by Port Dalhousie Coun. Carlos Garcia asking staff to investigate the logistics of a system that would send complaints received by the city to the NRP.

Council also passed staff recommendations requesting the NRP increase its enforcement and vigilance. The city will also ask the Ministry of the Attorney General to consider more severe penalties for convicted perpetrators to deter graffiti.

Giannico said graffiti is often done in the middle of the night and it's difficult to enforce with just patrols. He said it takes a community effort to try to limit it.

The NRP offers tips for graffiti prevention on its website, including environmental design deterrents such as security lighting, vines on walls, murals and cleanup.

"Cleanup is important — that's sending the message that this behaviour is not acceptable and the community won't stand by it," Giannico said.

"I know for some it's frustrating that the cleanup is happening continuously sometimes. Sometimes it isn't, it's just the one time and it doesn't reoccur."

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The NRP arrested a 22-year-old man on Jan. 29 for the 'huer' tagging and charged him with multiple counts of mischief over and under $5,000, along with theft of spray paint.

Police estimated the removal costs of his tagging alone could reach $100,000.

Residents who addressed council Monday said graffiti has become rampant in recent years and it's expensive to clean up.

Tisha Polocko, executive director of the St. Catharines Downtown Association, said the association has spent more than $49,000 in the past five years on graffiti removal in the city core and has commissioned outdoor murals to deter it. It can't keep up.

Della Trojan, chairwoman for Friends of Walker's Creek and on the advisory committee for Malcolmson Eco Park, said vandals entered one of the parks along Walker's Creek during the Christmas holidays and sprayed every single sign, including the entrance, information signs, private fences, a pedestrian bridge and the cement pad of a memorial bench.

"During my 15 years as a volunteer I've seen the rate of graffiti go from once in a while occasionally up to unbelievable proportions today."

Karena.Walter@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1628 | @karena_standard

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