Busselton graffiti incidents ‘out of character’ for city

Police are investigating several recent incidences of graffiti in Busselton, which have been labelled frustrating, but out of character for the region.

Geographe Leisure Centre was vandalised with black paint and offensive language earlier this week, which has since been removed by the City of Busselton.

Busselton police acting officer-in-charge Sergeant Michael Muldoon confirmed another incident involving two men at a Busselton shop last week was also being investigated.

“Anyone with information about graffiti around town, please contact the police,” he said.

Sgt Muldoon said Busselton was usually fortunate in that graffiti was rarely an issue, but said occasionally “it rears its head”.

“We don’t have that big an issue with graffiti, so it’s a bit out of character,” he said.

“The City is pretty good about it too, though.

“They get rid of it as quickly as possible, particularly if it’s offensive.”

Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said graffiti thwarted the City’s efforts to beautify and upgrade recreational areas and community facilities across the region.

“These types of graffiti incidents are incredibly frustrating, however the graffiti (at the GLC) has been removed,” he said.

In a bid to combat graffiti, Sgt Muldoon said police tracked “tags” through a growing central database of photographic evidence.

“If we get graffiti around the place, forensics go get photos of that and we try to identify who’s doing it,” he said.

Next month, a police unit will travel throughout the South West to discuss graffiti and vandalism with students.

Sgt Muldoon said people needed to be aware of the differences between vandalism and art.

He said commissioned graffiti art, like that often seen at skate parks, was not the same as “tags”.

“These tags, they’re not art,” he said.

“It’s visual vandalism.”