HRM recognizes that the media can be powerful partners in educating residents and spreading awareness about graffiti and how to reduce it.
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| A Sackville youth puts the finishing touches on a Community Mural at Acadia Centre. |
We ask that you partner in our efforts to reduce graffiti in HRM by observing some of the tips below when reporting on graffiti:
- Please report not only on the problem, but the positive steps being taken.
- Always stress that graffiti is not a “victimless” crime. Tax dollars are spent on cleanups. It contributes to citizens’ unease about the security and safety of neighborhoods, and can hurt business because customers may shop elsewhere.
- Avoid showing graffiti as it only gives more fame to the person who did it. If graffiti must be shown, only use one small unrecognizable area, or ensure the background of graffiti be slightly out-of-focus to distort any tags. It can also be photographed at an angle that makes it illegible.
- Never mention vandals by their tag names in stories.
- Never use negative phrases to describe graffiti writers. This will further alienate them from the community and entrench them deeper into the graffiti subculture.
- Do not refer to the graffiti writer as an “artist”.
For more information on the HRM Graffiti Management Plan and it's intiatives, please contact:
Patricia Pegley
HRM Corporate Communications
490-1517
pegleyp@halifax.ca
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