Pictured: A group of youngsters involved in the scheme with
(from left to right) PCSO Coton, Clare Walford and Michael
Batchelor
Teenage taggers who were caught by Coventry Police spraying
graffiti across residents' property have been set back on the right
path during their school summer holidays in a creative project
funded by Whitefriars Housing Group.
Homes, fences and garages in the Cheylesmore and Whitley areas
of the city were affected by the criminal damage between April and
May of this year.
Members of the community came forward following a local media
appeal to help identify the young culprits, who have since been
forced to write letters of apology to homeowners to explain their
actions.
It was then that neighbourhood police community support officer
(PCSO) Sarah Coton decided to show the youngsters and some of their
peers how to express themselves without getting into trouble.
Working closely with Whitefriars local estate officer, Clare
Walford, they successfully bid for money from the housing group's
'Pride in our Street' community project funding pot, recruiting a
professional artist to educate the children about producing art the
right way rather than defacing other people's private property.
Four sessions were run for dozens of kids - including the three
main offenders responsible for the earlier spate of graffiti - at
Cheylesmore Community Centre in Arundel Road by Coventry-based
professional graffiti artist Michael Batchelor.
The aim of the sessions being to teach the young people how to
use their artistic tools and talents properly, steering them away
from traditional graffiti and towards a more legal outlet for their
art.
PCSO Coton said: "These 'tags' were a real eyesore in the
community - an issue which has now hopefully been resolved for
residents.
"The kids who committed the original offences have been shown
how their actions had a negative impact on their neighbours and
they have admitted that they were in the wrong.
"These sessions have allowed us to take things forward with some
education and include other children in the scheme at the same
time."
Clare Walford, Cheylesmore Estate Officer, said: "We set up the
Pride in our Street funding pot for projects like this that help to
improve communities. I think that this particular scheme has and
will have a big impact in the area."