Community partnership deals to damage

Since late 2004, five Kapiti-Mana schools have been cracking down on vandalism, wilful damage and graffiti as part of an ongoing community partnership.

In one instance a school’s annual damage repair bill – which peaked at $60,000 – was reduced to $9000 last year. In 2004, it cost schools in Eastern Porirua about $200,000 in repairs. Today, that bill is significantly lower, but all schools are remaining vigilant to keep on top of the problem.

Kapiti-Mana Area Commander, Inspector John Spence, says five schools in Porirua East and Waitangirua were experiencing serious problems, particularly during the school holidays.

“One group of kids would arrive in a school, smash something and then move on,” says John.

“The next group would arrive shortly afterwards, smash something else and move on. Things were getting quite out of hand.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Oxnam gathered the five school principals together, along with Police, Ministry of Education officials and the Porirua City Council Chief Executive.

“We sat down as a group and worked out what we could do to reduce this problem,” says John.

The aim was to put something in place for the 2004/05 Christmas holidays at Corinna, Russell, Cannons Creek and Natone Park primary schools and Porirua College.

“One of the main things we decided as a group was that being on the school grounds out of hours was now going to be a privilege, not a right,” John says.

The school principals worked with Police and the Ministry to put in place strategies that would work, and the City Council maintained an overview.

Inspector John Spence – working with school principals, the Ministry of Education and Porirua City Council –
to crack down on vandalism and graffiti in the Porirua area. Photo: Kapi Mana News

The Ministry of Education agreed to increase random security guard patrols through the school holidays and improved lighting and security cameras.

Community Constables scoped out the schools’ layout to see what could be done by providing crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED).

“We worked out some of the schools were being used as thoroughfares and shortcuts,” John says.

“One of the tenets of CPTED is changing habits. So we got the Ministry to block unnecessary entries to the schools and repair fences and gates, and get people moving around the schools rather than through them.”

Trespass signs were also erected at the schools and notices issued to offenders. “We also tasked night-shift staff to help patrol round the schools and respond quickly if a caretaker or security guard called us.”

John says the most telling difference after that first Christmas holidays came from a school principal who said: “We didn’t come back to a war zone.”

“Apart from the occasional spike where one kid goes berserk, we’ve substantially reduced the amount of vandalism in the schools to a much lower and more manageable level than it ever has been,” John says. “It’s all down to everyone working together doing their two or three little bits.”

Former Porirua College deputy principal, Andy Fraser, says the partnership has been proactive and extremely effective.

The schools had been finding it hard to gain headway on their own, and were frustrated by the significant expenditure required to repair the damage after the fact.

“Schools in Porirua East had been hit hard by vandalism and tagging and one teacher commented that it looked like a Beirut bomb site some mornings,” Andy says.

“The significant catalyst was the Council and Police coming on board, and then the Ministry of Education ... all of us singing the same song.

“Once we had coordination, things started to fall into place. The reduction (in tagging and vandalism) was quite marked, it happened quickly and has been maintained,” he says.

Since then, the group has met before every school holidays aiming to maintain the low rates of damage compared to three years ago.

The group met late last month at Porirua Central Police Station to confirm its approach for the 2007/08 school holidays.

The initiative is now built into Porirua’s wider community policing approach, overseen by Senior Constable Peer Nielsen as part of his community engagement portfolio.

Superintendent Bill Searle, National Manager Community Policing, says graffiti and vandalism is a major concern to communities and this initiative is proving to be a successful problem-solving approach for these schools.