City Council introduce interactive way to report Graffiti

There is a new way to reduce graffiti in Exeter.

The new system, which can be found here: https://goo.gl/c4uqtt, allows people to report graffiti by simply pinning the location of the incident on a map, and within 48 hours, the City Council will deploy clean up teams to remove it. 

Members of the public can take a photograph of graffiti on their smartphone and via the new system, send it directly to the clean-up teams. Global Positioning Satellites allow the precise location to be pinpointed, allowing crews to clean up the graffiti quicker.

Cllr Stephen Brimble, Lead Councillor for Place, said: “This is a great piece of kit that not only speeds up the reporting of graffiti but more easily allows the public to get involved, report graffiti and get updates. We are continuing to devote more resources to keeping Exeter clean.”

The City Council has expanded its graffiti clean-up team and last year received £1,125 towards the cost of chemicals when the Globe English School fined a group of students for spray-painting buildings in Exeter.

“Recruiting two more staff has enabled us to go from cleaning off 11 pieces a day to 40,” added Cllr Brimble. “We’re now working up until 8pm at night and this change in hours has enabled us to speak to more home owners when they get back from work.”

Construction of the new system is based on public feedback and the Council hopes that it will be used to report other environmental issues such as over-flowing bins and bottle banks in the near future.