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Tag Out Trust

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Tag Out Trust works alongside Auckland Council to assist individuals, businesses, schools, and groups to remove graffiti from their community. The trust is involved in a number of removal projects. Most importantly, graffiti should be removed as soon as possible after it occurs.

 

Removal Programmes

The key elements of removal are:

  • Provision of a council hotline for assistance (Auckland Council: phone 09 839-0400)
  • Extensive removal contracts
  • Use of volunteers in removal activities
  • Removal from residential properties at no cost thanks to sponsorship from Portage and Waitakere Trusts.

Volunteer Projects

The volunteer projects' objective is to raise the level of community awareness about graffiti and offer ways to assist the community to prevent further spread. Pamphlet drops made to properties in areas affected by graffiti best achieve this. The pamphlets outline alternative action residents could use to remove graffiti and protect their property from future attacks.
 
Although the Tag Out Trust removes graffiti from shopping centres and main arterial routes, bus stops and parks, the involvement of the community is seen as complementary to this service. Therefore the trust encourages individual volunteers and groups to take ownership of the removal process from specific private, community, or public spaces through the following programmes:

 

  • Self help removal - Free materials to remove tagging. Graffiti removal hasn't been a traditional role of local authorities. However, in the interest of the public good, Tag Out Trust aims to assist residents whose properties have been tagged. Tag Out makes it possible for residents to remove graffiti from their premises quickly, eliminating the opportunity for the graffiti to grow, and maintaining the visual appearance of West Auckland. The trust can provide you with paint to be picked up at a local outlet, or have the graffiti removed by an operator. Call the Auckland Council Call Centre on 839 0400 for more information. By taking part in this programme you can take pride in your community, receive free products to help you, and other West Auckland ratepayers benefit from additional graffiti removal at no extra cost.
     
  • Adopt a Spot - Joining the Adopt a Spot programme helps you to take pride in your neighbourhood and respond quickly when graffiti appears. Tag Out Trust supplies volunteers with a graffiti removal kit - paint, brushes, gloves, and wet paint tape. Volunteers can be individuals or groups (church groups, schools, girl guides etc), and may be approached by the trust and made aware of the programme. Some public sites tend to attract a large amount of graffiti, and are not covered under the current removal contract with Auckland Council. This includes transformers outside residents' homes, local walkways used by school pupils, and fences adjoining local parks. Similarly, some neighbourhoods appear to be major targets for tagging. These places are spots just waiting to be adopted!

 

  • Community Paint Outs - For a free kit, click here are an extension of the Adopt a Spot volunteer programme. However, they involve a greater number of people and a larger area of operation. The paint outs can remove large volumes of graffiti in a single day.

 

  • Community Service - The objective is to have as many people involved in community events as possible. Specifically this programme promotes taking pride in beautifying and keeping an area clean from graffiti in a fun packed day for the whole family and their community. The community constables and Tag Out Trust's operations manager initiate most Community Paint Outs. A fun day is planned that includes:
    • Painting out graffiti by young and old together
    • Socialising with your neighbours
    • Barbecue and refreshments for all participants
    • Spot prizes donated by local businesses for adults, teenagers, and young children

    All equipment, food, and entertainment is provided free for participants. At the beginning of the event, all participants are briefed on safe work practices.

    West Auckland is one of the country's fastest growing areas with a large youth population. As most people are aware, this demographic comes with an ever-increasing number of youth-related problems. The main concern for the trust is primarily taggers (graffiti scribblers) and the consequences, or lack of consequences, for these young offenders.
     
    Currently the police (who are under-resourced) are doing little in the way of prevention or intervention, leaving it wide open for taggers to continue re-offending. This Community Service programme is a part of a holistic approach to reducing graffiti in the city for the present and the future. It focuses on there being consequences for criminal actions, which in turn creates deterrents for 'would be' taggers.

 
What is provided in Community Service?

Community Service provides structured activities for the participants with an experienced supervisor - ensuring service hours handed out by Youth Justice or Youth Aid are completed. Community Service provides:

  • Structured events for the participants such as painting out graffiti, litter pick-ups, tree planting, and weeding
  • The sites for these projects and the equipment needed to service the project
  • Full supervision of the participants by an experienced youth supervisor at all times
  • Resources such as paint, accessories, rubbish bags, etc
  • A truck to transport the participants to and from the pick-up points and the project sites
  • Validation of given Community Service hours

The main aim of the Community Service programme is to reduce re-offending, create consequences for young offenders, and have a safer community. This in turn makes the police, Youth Justice, and council's jobs easier.