Bl@@dy Vandals

[shayned]

This really gives me the absolute sh#ts!!!!

We are a volunteer group that always struggles to find funding. We recently erected signage at Lake Kurwongbah to help people using the area to have a better experience. Fish ID photos, species descriptions, map and some general info and history concerning the lake.

The signs and frames were fairly large expenditures for us and we find ourselves continually cleaning graphitti off of them but this is the final straw, have a look at the photo attached.

As we couldn't afford to fix the sign, it would have stayed this way for the foreseeable future. Amazingly the folks at East Coast Signs who made the signs, come to the rescue and fixed the problem, without asking for another cent.

[cormorant]

There are some special coatings and films but all add extra expense. A shotgun would be cheaper and it amazes me that a lot of the vandals aren't kids

[Chong]

It does make you wonder:-X no respect for anything:( . Keep up the good work, real people do appreciate it8-)

[bdowdy]

no respect these days,need to go back to the older days were kicks up the a.....s were the normal thing,,,hopethey get caught one day and someone does kick there a..s.cheers brett

[Noelm]

never could quite understand why people just wreck things, you can sort of see why people steal things to sell for money for drugs or just because they need cash and are too lazy to go out and work, but to blantantly wreck things, or steal a car and burn it, that is just stupidity and should be dealt with very severely, and even more so when it is a charity or volunteer organisation. The boofheads!

[Little grey men]

Those signs are quite striking. Very informative. It's a shame the low brows stumbled across them.
I wonder what strand of DNA is missing from these boneheads that find breaking things an entertaining pass time ???. I suppose at least if they're out and about in the community breaking things, they're not at home breeding future low brows.

[Foxy4]

Yes it is not very surprising to find out that it is not just young kids that do this sort of shit... Wonder how they all would feel if you or i went around to their pave and did something similar to something of theirs???

[Donny Boy]

All in favour of making vigilanties legal.................raise your hands.

There's some Neanderthal out our way who likes to rip the roads up at all hours in a quiet domestic area...........................

.................Apparently put his Car into a ditch a few nights back.....................

.................Swears blind that something flew out & hit his car ..............


............So i've heard...............................Spooky hey !!

[TimiBoy]

My hand is up.

And I want Town Squares with Stocks in them. A few days in the stocks, and plenty of rotten tomatoes for the masses to chuck at these meat heads...

Hey! Meat... Tomatoes...

bolognese!

;D;D;D

Tim

[jtpython]

All in favour of making vigilanties legal.................raise your hands.

There's some Neanderthal out our way who likes to rip the roads up at all hours in a quiet domestic area...........................

.................Apparently put his Car into a ditch a few nights back.....................

.................Swears blind that something flew out & hit his car ..............


............So i've heard...............................Spooky hey !!

Something needs to be done to make them stand up and think about it before doing it
JT

[Reel Nauti]

Sometimes a piece of perspex covering helps protect, but once again more expense. Good signs Tim, and well done to you and the volunteer organisation.

Dave

[snagking]

I wonder what strand of DNA is missing from these boneheads that find breaking things an entertaining pass time ???.

I think they are missing the brain gene?

[Mr__Bean]

A guy I worked with had to put his house up for sale and the agaent wanted to put a bigger than usual sign out the front with the light and all.

He knew it would get vandalised with spray paint as there was a group in the area causing problems with graffiti.

When the sign went up he went out and sprayed it with pressure pack cooking oil, when the graffiti clowns came along (as he knew they would) it was just a matter of wiping off the mess and re-oiling.

Doesn't help this situation I know, but something to keep in mind ifa similar situation arises.

- Darren

[shayned]

After we got the first graphitti hit, one of our guys "Moses" went and found some you beaut wipes which remove nikko pen really well and again Rob from East Coast Signs came to the rescue, I think we chipped in $20 to help cover wages and Rob supplied some space age ceramic, teflon polymer thingy to cover the signs with and nothing sticks to it. You could just about give the graphitti a stern look and it would slide right off.

I can only guess this lot of damage was done because we didn't leave the "Tags" up on the signs. The funny thing is that the back of the sign is one big blank panel, they could do what they bloody like there but I guess that would be too big an ask.

I've got to tell you though everytime we see the graphitti, there's a quiet voice in your head asking why we even bother.

[garman1]

If only you could put a camera in the sign looking out................. and start a shame file for these drop kicks.......I agree with Tim, oh and while their in the stocks everyone can go and visit their house or car and er er modernize it a bit. Stick a prawn here or there, that would be a good start.

The other option is a stint in the army for a year or two.... (cheaper than jail) Not the new style training, hold up a red card when your Sargent is spitting in your face screaming at the top of his lungs, please sir I don't like the way your talking to me......................................! old style training, good,honest, in the mud and sh#t training, Live rounds for training you to keep ya head down etc and real grenades not blocks of steel.

I suppose this idea would infringe on their human rights etc I guess eh !

[oldboot]

If you are going to take on the vandals you have to be committed and cunning.

If you have a graffiti problem you have to remove it or cover it as fast as it appears...( which I supose you have been doing).

You need to start thinking like a crim......before you errect a "target" have a good look at it and thing "how would I damage this".

there are several things you can do that are effective and easy.

the cooking oil thing is certainly viable.....MR Sheen is excelent too it has heaps of silicon in it........furniture refinishers hate the stuff... they call him the evil little man....

There are a few places where they have planted agressive plants ( with nasty big spikes) (bogonvillia yea, the orange one has the biggest spikes) or even just realy dense hedging plants or plants that stink on contact. to make access difficult or unpleasnat.

the smart thing is to have the plants establised and solidly rooted before you errect the sign.

it is much easier to damage an edge of something or start damage at an edge ( as has been done here) than do seriuos damage to a flat surface.
so you realy need to pay attention to the edges... maybe some extrusion or heavy timber edgeing with a rebate in it to cover the edge.... but you beeter make it strong.

there is a plastic sign material ( perhaps that is what you are using) that can be printed full colour but is heavily vandal resistant... like a teflon film.

CCTV is getting very much cheaper......one of the county parks I do some work in had problems with vandalism in their toilet block...still does.

they installed a bollard outside the toilet block oposite the entrances..... that heavy steel bollard had a movement triggered camera and recorder built into it.
If they had a problem the parks manager simply unscrewed ( vandal resistant screws) a plate removed the memory card and plugged it into his computer to view the images.

is the sign lit well at night... this might be a problem... logan council has coloured the lights under some of its bridges and the graffiti does not seem to have come back.

Getting upset wont do you much good..... you need to get cunning......I've met some shopping centre managers who treat vandalism as apersoonal chalenge......and they get quite a bit of gratification from it........they really enjoy outsmarting vandals.....afterall most of them arent all that smart.

Quite often I walk ito some public place and look at things counciols or such have put there and just wonder......how long do you think that will last?

cheers

[bundylundy]

Shayned,
Know how you feel. Our fishstocking group raised funds and sponsors to provide a shelter shed, tables and seats, water tank and bbq at Lake Gregory between Bundaberg and Childers. It was an idylic place for a family BBQ. Well the tank lasted less than a week and all that is left now is the cement slab the shelter shed was on and the broken brick base for the bbq. Everything else is gone. The senless theft and vandalism just breaks your heart. I know we can't let the mongrels beat us but sometimes you wonder why you even try. Shayned keep at it, don't let the barstards beat you down.

Jeff.

[oldboot]

Saw an interesting concept on TV the other night....In Canada they aparantly have a big car theft problem in some areas.... parked theft, car jackings, ect.....
Thay now have a bait car programe, where they have target cars fitted with tracking and surveylance camers.... they have a plain clothes copper drive em arround and park em in high risk places.........when the car gets jacked or stolen the surveylance crew follow it for a while......when they feel the time is right they remotely fiddle with the engine management and central locking and nab the suckers.
No high speed chase and plenty of evidence......they even solve a lot of other crime because the crims blab to each other in the cars.

I recon this approach has merit here, for a variety of crimes.
It isn't entrapment because no one has encouraged the crim to commit the crime.

For vandals all you would need to do is find a wall full of tags, give it a nice fresh coat of paint thursday morning....install some tempoary surveylance and wait within radio range.......I recon you would have a paddy waggon full by breakfast Sunday.

These methods are no economical on a case by case basis but as a deterant they would be great.......the only real deterant is a real risk of being caught and punished.

cheers

[Donny Boy]

[quote=TimiBoy;992353]

And I want Town Squares with Stocks in them. A few days in the stocks, and plenty of rotten tomatoes for the masses to chuck at these meat heads...

Let's see now.........The Civil Libertarian " How to " book......hmmmmm....

Yep ! Stocks and being pelted is Deprivation of Liberty & Assault ! Tsk, Tsk !!!
( Good Idea but !)

Oldboot :
There are a few places where they have planted agressive plants ( with nasty big spikes) (bogonvillia yea, the orange one has the biggest spikes)

Uh Huh !!...........That comes under "Booby Traps & unacceptable use of........"
( Stop it.......I'm getting excited ...........)

garman1 :
The other option is a stint in the army for a year or two.... (cheaper than jail) Not the new style training, hold up a red card when your Sargent is spitting in your face screaming at the top of his lungs, please sir I don't like the way your talking to me......................................! old style training, good,honest, in the mud and sh#t training, Live rounds for training you to keep ya head down etc and real grenades not blocks of steel.

( Oh god ...I love the way you guys think !!!!!!)

According to the book, they'd need a Penthouse for accomodation...3 Plasmas, and hot and cold running girlfriends...............That ...& 2 grand a week.


WTF......................................Where the hell is my can of Spray paint !!!

[kingtin]

I've got to tell you though everytime we see the graphitti, there's a quiet voice in your head asking why we even bother.

Because you care Shayne. The wankers that do it couldn't stand in the shadow of the likes of you and your team. Keep heart mate.

kev

[shayned]

Hey Kev mate,
I wish you could have come to the special needs kids day.

Check out the April edition of Bush n Beach for the story, we made a lot of new friends on the day but we could have used your photographic skills.

Any ideas where I can get a shot gun????>:( :o :-/

[kingtin]

Hey Kev mate,
I wish you could have come to the special needs kids day.

Check out the April edition of Bush n Beach for the story, we made a lot of new friends on the day but we could have used your photographic skills.

Any ideas where I can get a shot gun????>:( :o :-/

Yeah, sorry about that mate. Any other time though, just call. Got me Tassie pics up now http://www.bidkev.com/australia.php so if you want a nice one fer yer wall, just call.

I'm still only catchin' turtles at Kurwongbah ::) Think I;ll head back to the salt ;D

kev