Jackson Street hit in next-generation tagging spree
By Joel Maxwell
Petone police station left ?Radd? by costly etching crim. A single vandal has scratched his way through Jackson Street creating a repair bill of thousands after a one-night attack that even hit the police station. Senior constable Andy Smith of Petone police said the businesses and the station were hit in a one-night plague of etchings on their windows. The tag ?Radd? was etched into dozens of windows along the street on Tuesday October 21. ?To remove it requires new glass and a lot of shopkeepers who have had their windows etched are talking three-odd grand to replace those big picture windows,? he said. The windows in the doors of the police station were also etched in the attack with the letters of Radd carved large in the glass. Mr Smith said surveillance footage from one Jackson Street store caught the male vandal moving down the street. He asked for any other businesses that might have footage from the night to contact police. ?I?m working alongside the Jackson Street Programme to talk to their members to see if people could just have a look at their videos from that time and if they see anybody walking past.? The attacks happened between midnight and 1am and police have so far had 20 complaints of etching attacks. ?I would say clearly there would be more (attacks) than that.? Mr Smith has heard of similar problems in Wanganui where etching was replacing spray tagging as a major vandalism problem. As access to spray paint tightens it appears vandals will use any method to leave their mark ? Mr Smith said some even used black boot polish from applicator bottles. He has contacted glass businesses to see if the etching can be removed without replacing the entire pane. ?They said the technology?s not there for it at the moment.?
