[Brighton] Graffiti Tagging - who is doing it and why?

Lush · Oct 17, 2019

Reaching out to those in the know here, and realising that I'm sounding like a naive old dear, but it's something that's been puzzling me for a while.

Graffiti tagging is epidemic in Brighton - and virtually any building is now fair game.

From the sheer number and variety of tags (not graffiti artwork, which is mostly pretty stunning), there must be a lot of people out and about with spray cans.

Yet when visiting city centres like Newcastle and Liverpool for away games they seem relatively untouched in comparison.

Why is it such a huge thing in Brighton? Who is doing it and why?

Stat Brother · Oct 17, 2019

Graffiti Tagging - who is doing it and why?
Cos they is tw@ts.

vegster · Oct 17, 2019

I never understood it and probably never will, it just makes an area look run down and abandoned but it fits in with the general decay and litter.

Publius Ovidius · Oct 17, 2019

“ reaching out” ?

Tsk tsk

narly101 · Oct 17, 2019

Bored kids who haven't been taught to respect other peoples belongings. Need a bloody good hiding.

surrey jim · Oct 17, 2019

Brighton and Hove council are running a consultation on how best to deal with the issue. Full details below including an opportunity to put your views /ideas / solutions to Councillors.

https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2019/fed-graffiti-and-tagging-help-us-rub-it-out-good
https://consultations.brighton-hove...ts/graffiti-removal-enforcement-consultation/

GT49er · Oct 17, 2019

narly101 said:
Bored kids who haven't been taught to respect other peoples belongings. Need a bloody good hiding.

Attractive idea as it sounds, I think a bloody good hiding these days would just end up with the concerned citizen protecting their own property being the one who ends up with a criminal record. Time tagging was made a specific criminal offence though, with serious penalties in law for offenders.
Could somebody invent some sort of electronic tag that would block any wifi or mobile phone signal within a couple of metres of the person sentenced to wear it for 6 months - I think that might be quite an effective deterrent. Might improve the offender's social skills at the same time too!

Taybha · Oct 17, 2019

You would of thought the police were competent enough to have captured that Banksy bloke by now .

Icy Gull · Oct 17, 2019

No idea, it’s perceived by their peers as being cool.

BNthree · Oct 17, 2019

Think Brighton has the same amount of graffiti as other places but less cleaning up of graffiti so it all just accumulates. Seems to be concentrated in certain areas (Western Road, London Rd, Lewes Rd). Go to Paris, Madrid, Rome or London and there is loads more than Brighton.

vegster · Oct 17, 2019

surrey jim said:
Brighton and Hove council are running a consultation on how best to deal with the issue. Full details below including an opportunity to put your views /ideas / solutions to Councillors.

https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2019/fed-graffiti-and-tagging-help-us-rub-it-out-good
https://consultations.brighton-hove...ts/graffiti-removal-enforcement-consultation/

I'm reminded by the chorus of a Del Amitri song " And nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all, the needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before "

Tokyohands · Oct 17, 2019

I've never been really interested in it but when I was at secondary school a kid in my year was tagging EVERYWHERE along the south coast. I went with him one night just to see what it was like and it was crap. We exerted way too much energy climbing over wire fences, walls, climbing up onto rooves, dodging trains running along the tracks etc just so he could scribble HEAL on pretty much every surface he saw. He was a nice enough kid but he just got a kick out of seeing his tag everywhere and being the one who other taggers spoke about. He enjoyed the thrill of being chased and getting away too.

Rogero · Oct 17, 2019

Do they ever prosecute people when caught/ ? If so it is probably a rap on the knuckles. There was a case earlier in the year and twp girls were caught in action on film. What happened in the end?

SAC · Oct 17, 2019

If it's offensive or on public property then the council will remove it; https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling-and-streets/streets/what-do-about-graffiti. A lot of the tagging isn't deemed offensive or on council owned property, in which case it is up to the land-owner.

Getting caught tagging is a small fine for the first offence. Community service (hopefully removing tagging) for future offences.

zefarelly · Oct 17, 2019

I quite like the ALBION painted on the side of the barn north of the A27 in Shoreham.

not a fan of illiterate scribbles on garage doors though

Norman Potting · Oct 17, 2019

Refers to soccer hooligans, but as this thankfully is a diminishing issue (hopefully) perhaps they could try this?

Lush · Oct 17, 2019

Tokyohands said:
I've never been really interested in it but when I was at secondary school a kid in my year was tagging EVERYWHERE along the south coast. I went with him one night just to see what it was like and it was crap. We exerted way too much energy climbing over wire fences, walls, climbing up onto rooves, dodging trains running along the tracks etc just so he could scribble HEAL on pretty much every surface he saw. He was a nice enough kid but he just got a kick out of seeing his tag everywhere and being the one who other taggers spoke about. He enjoyed the thrill of being chased and getting away too.

So it’s the ‘cool’ secondary school kids of Brighton sneaking out after midnight?

BNthree · Oct 17, 2019

zefarelly said:
I quite like the ALBION painted on the side of the barn north of the A27 in Shoreham.

Noticed that this week and it brightened up my day a bit. :clap2:

blue-shifted · Oct 17, 2019

Tokyohands said:
I've never been really interested in it but when I was at secondary school a kid in my year was tagging EVERYWHERE along the south coast. I went with him one night just to see what it was like and it was crap. We exerted way too much energy climbing over wire fences, walls, climbing up onto rooves, dodging trains running along the tracks etc just so he could scribble HEAL on pretty much every surface he saw. He was a nice enough kid but he just got a kick out of seeing his tag everywhere and being the one who other taggers spoke about. He enjoyed the thrill of being chased and getting away too.

You're right. It's the thrill. the thrill of getting away with something risky is very appealing to someone that age.

It's also the ability to stand out. You see the same behaviour on NSC and on social media generally. People saying ridiculous things to compete for attention. In the instagram generation this is going to be worse. Petty vandalism is just a different way for a young person to stand out from the crowd. They are going to be sharing what they've done online and getting a lot of peer congratulations for it. They'll think they are Banksy and they'll think they are sticking it to the system. We all probably found our own ways of doing that when we were young

blue-shifted · Oct 17, 2019

SAC said:
If it's offensive or on public property then the council will remove it; https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling-and-streets/streets/what-do-about-graffiti. A lot of the tagging isn't deemed offensive or on council owned property, in which case it is up to the land-owner.

Getting caught tagging is a small fine for the first offence. Community service (hopefully removing tagging) for future offences.

It would make sense for it to be a specific criminal offence with a punishment of .... cleaning up a tonne of tagging

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[Brighton] Graffiti Tagging - who is doing it and why?

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