By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
A PILOT graffiti education program about the negative impacts of graffiti and tagging has been delivered to local students.
The project was funded through the Victorian Government’s Community Crime Prevention Program and was delivered through Cardinia Council’s Community Risk and Emergency Management team.
The project is aimed at youths who are likely to be experimenting with graffiti.
Students from Year 5 to Year 9 at Cockatoo Primary School, Beaconhills College (Pakenham campus), Pakenham Secondary College, Kooweerup Secondary College and Emerald Secondary College took part.
Councillor Jodie Owen said the pilot program showcased issues young people didn’t often think of when tagging.
“The program raises possibilities many young people may not have considered in relation to engaging in graffiti,’ she said.
“The students learnt how police use photographs of tags to gather evidence against a tagger.
“Or that taggers could be forced to pay the clean-up bill, even years later.“
Situations depicted by the presenter included a tagger being charged by police and a young person giving in to peer pressure to engage in vandalism.
