Auckland appears to be seeing a spike in graffiti following the Covid pandemic.

Latest figures released to Newstalk ZB show Auckland Council has recorded and cleaned almost 48,000 incidents of graffiti since July.

If this trend continues, it will record about 118,000 incidents this financial year.

That would be the highest number in more than five years and over 20,000 more than in the 2023/24 financial year.

Almost half of graffiti is in the central and eastern suburbs, where about 24,000 tags have been recorded and cleaned since July.

South Auckland has the second highest rate of graffiti, while the area north of the Harbour Bridge had the least.
The latest numbers far exceed those recorded during the peak of the Covid pandemic, when NZTA and KiwiRail recorded extensive graffiti on motorways and rail corridors.

It also surpasses last financial year, when a prolific Auckland tagger posted a frightening video of himself and an accomplice climbing above lanes of speeding motorway traffic and vandalising direction signs, eliciting disappointment from authorities.

Auckland Council Parks and Community Facilities Manager Taryn Crewe said some pieces of infrastructure are more commonly targeted.

“Things like our private residential properties or small business enterprises tend to be common targets. Public fencing, toilets, skate parks, playgrounds and footpaths also get a few incidents,” she said.

“Those hot spots tend to move depending on how proactive the response is in that part of the community.”

In the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board area alone, there has been vandalism at Waenganui/Allenby Park in Papatoetoe, Otamariki Park in Ōtara, Sikkim Park in Clover Park, and East Tamaki Reserve, and the new $10.8 million Hayman Park I Manukau Iho Noa playground

Crewe said part of the increase is actually down to changes in recording. “Some of that is because our contractors included the proactive removal of graffiti within our public toilets and inside buildings.”

Similar issues are also being reported in other centres, with Tauranga ratepayers paying more than $160,000 to clean up thousands of incidents of graffiti on bridges, underpasses, alleyways and bus shelters.

Auckland Council is using a range of methods to prevent graffiti, including strategically-placed green-wall vegetation to dissuade taggers and hanging movable artworks by local artists on frequently-targeted fences and walls.

Experiments with a protective coating called “graffiti guarding” -- which makes graffiti easier to remove without damaging the surface it’s on - has had some success.

A trial involving laser removal hasn’t proven as effective.
Transportable CCTV cameras are also being installed in high-risk areas, to provide information to the police on repeat offenders.

Crewe said graffiti crews are also working to tight targets.

“Contractors have to remove 40 pieces of graffiti for every one report of it from the public. We aim to remove graffiti within 24 hours of it being reported and in two hours if it’s offensive.”

Jacob Jones is a Newstalk ZB reporter working out of the Auckland newsroom. He has an interest in council and local government issues.