City of Rockingham deletes ineffectual $1000 graffiti rewards policy that has never been paid out

The City of Rockingham has ditched an “ineffectual” theft and vandalism rewards policy that hasn’t paid out once in the almost 30 years since it was passed.

The council started offering a $1000 reward in 1996 to anyone who snitched on a vandal if the information led to a conviction in an attempt to reduce theft and vandalism in the community.

But the policy has proven to be a toothless tiger, with no record of any reward being issued.

Minutes from a recent council meeting revealed rewards were an “ineffective mechanism” to address vandalism and graffiti.

The policy itself was deemed ineffective as the council has no part in collecting information related to these offences or in prosecuting them.

In moving on from the policy, city staff said theft and vandalism was a minor cost for the city, not the high cost the original policy statement suggested.

Meeting minutes revealed the cost of managing and maintaining the city’s assets is less than 1.5 per cent of its annual asset renewal budget.

Last month, Federal Police were asked to investigate after activists sprayed graffiti on the wall of Federal Minister Madeleine King’s electoral office in Rockingham.

The graffiti couldn’t be cleaned off, so the popular art celebrating Rockingham’s environment might need to be repainted.