How is the graffiti situation?

This time last year Coleridge Conservatives were reporting endless graffiti around the ward and elsewhere in the city. It had reached levels where anything that could be scrawled on was and the city was beginning to look shabby.

It does feel as if there is a lot less this year, even though there is still plenty appearing, and being reported on FixMyStreet by members of the public. What do you think? Let us know whether you think the problem is improving using the poll on our blog.

In general crime and antisocial behaviour are purported to have been kept down due to the cold weather so this may be the underlying explanation. It would be interesting to see an analysis of council or fixmystreet reports queried from their databases.

I had an interesting chat with a city council employee who was cleaning off graffiti from the Langham Road sign this morning. Unfortunately council rules prevented him from consenting to me taking a picture of him at work, which I thought would have made an interesting illustration, so we are stuck with a picture of the vehicle used instead!


Thanks to the employee for the good work and for suggesting I remind people to get in touch with the city council with any more reports. I use the FixMyStreet website so people can see what else has been reported and track problems - unfortunately the city council does not seem to submit updates - it would be great if they could integrate such a feature into their workflow system!

Latest Graffiti Outbreak by 'Melon'

I have just reported a spate of graffiti tagging to the city council, a particularly bad example being the large mural above by "Melon" on a wall next the Coleridge Rec pool.

Here is a list of graffiti reports that we have recently made across the division:

• Rustat Road
• Davy Road
• Coleridge Rec
• Radegund Road
• Langham Road
• Perne Road
• Corrie Road path
• Charles Street
• Cherry Hinton Road
• Outside Budgens

We have been asking the council to pass on these reports to the police, because there is no way we can get tackling this sort of crime resourced without it being fully reported. There is generally thought to be a high level of under reporting due to people's expectations that nothing will be done, but local police have been urging people to report all crimes, and if they weren't, we certainly would!

As well as resourcing, we also need to help the police with intelligence as much as possible. For instance, can you pinpoint the time of any particular activity? Do your children have a clue who "ATS" (these initials often accompany the "MELON" tag) might be? Please let us know or e-mail "ecops.coleridge" at "cambs.pnn.police.uk" if you have any ideas.

The "Melon" tagger also painted his full mural onto the side of the Duke of Argyle pub some time between Midnight and the morning on Wednesday 11th March. Did anyone see anything?

Burnt-out Wheelie Bins, Snapped Wing Mirrors and Graffiti

Coleridge Conservatives are concerned about a recent outbreak of criminal damage in and around Coleridge. You wouldn't have guessed it from the e-Cops reports of falling crime and antisocial behaviour being under control, but there does seem to have been a spate of activity.

It seems as if one or more people have been taking routes through part of the city and either spraying their graffiti tag 'DSC' on practically everything in sight, setting fire to wheelie bins or snapping off wing mirrors.

We are concerned that reports are perhaps not being received, processed or treated appropriately so regarding damage to cars we have asked police what reports have been received and what is being done about them, as well as whether some patrols could be instigated. Apparently there is "a bit of antisocial behaviour" around the relevant area. We are not entirely sure that "antisocial behaviour" is quite the correct classification for this crime but it's good to hear that the police are on the case.

Streets affected by the graffiti include Rustat Road, Corrie Road, Hobart Road/Suez Road and Cromwell Road. Coleridge Conservatives have reported many of these to the city council although there are still many more instances around, including lampposts as far as Coldhams Common.



I am pleased to note that the Rustat Road gates have already been repainted by the council - in fact just before I reported them, unaware that they had already been attended to.

More worrying is arson on wheelie bins, found on Brackyn Road and Charles Street:



Policing priorities for the area are again up for debate at this Thursday's East Area Committee.