Crime statistics offence descriptions (2004) from the Western Australia Police define graffiti as: "property damage caused by the application of substances (e.g. paint, posters and/or plastic, metal or wood based compounds) to the surface of the property".
Property damage is "an act (excluding graffiti) or omission to do an act with the intent to destroy or damage property".
It is noted that "most graffiti offences are committed against public property and the number of offences reported during a period can vary due to the strategies and practices adopted by some government agencies, local government authorities and private enterprise"
Using Graffiti Statistics
Overall graffiti statistics should be used with caution – graffiti statistics are too inconsistent and unreliable to be used as an accurate information source.
The number of graffiti offences reported and recorded each month can vary considerably and do not necessarily reflect the actual graffiti situation.
Some common problems with graffiti statistics include:
Levels of reporting
Many individuals are proactive in addressing graffiti vandalism and remove ‘minor’ graffiti from their assets without reporting the incident.
Type of graffiti
The type and frequency of graffiti often makes the recording of graffiti difficult. Given police resources and priorities, it is not practical for the police to record and investigate all graffiti incidents.
Frequency of graffiti
Graffiti ‘tags’ are often placed several times, by the one vandal, within the same area. In some instances these ‘tags’ are being reported as one incident (i.e. one ‘tag’ placed several times) or as separate incidents (i.e. each ‘tag’ reported individually as a separate incident).
Ownership of assets
Sometimes it is difficult for members of the public to ascertain who the asset owner is. For this reason not all graffiti is reported or in some instances the same graffiti is reported more than once by different people.
This page was last updated October 2009
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