The Burnaby RCMP announced Tuesday the recent arrests of five people involved in graffiti offences in the city.
During a four-day blitz between July 20 and 23, the Burnaby RCMP partnered with Canadian National Railway Police and the Coquitlam RCMP to arrest three adults and one young offender. The adults are facing criminal charges relating to damaging property, while the young offender has been referred to the restorative justice program.
In another incident, the Burnaby RCMP arrested a woman near the Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre for a graffiti-related offence.
"The broken window theory applies here," said Const. Shelby Murphy, the Burnaby RCMP's anti-graffiti coordinator. "Studies show that more crime occurs in areas which are allowed to remain in a state of disrepair and when an area is cleaned up, people take more pride in their community. I encourage citizens to band together and take back their community by removing graffiti as soon as it appears and to report all occurrences to police. When graffiti is removed immediately, it is less likely to reoccur."
The City of Burnaby and the Burnaby RCMP began a joint task force in 2009 to address the graffiti problem in the city. Since the formation of this task force, there has been an 80 per cent decrease in graffiti vandalism.
www.twitter.com/AlfieLau
