RCMP reports spike in graffiti vandalism in Kelowna

There’s been an increase in graffiti vandalism in Kelowna this year, according to RCMP.

“We have noticed an increase,” said Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy. “It’s hard to say exactly why that is, but we have noticed an increase this year.”

The City of Kelowna confirmed that normally in a year’s span, it responds to 6,000 locations that have been vandalized by graffiti taggers but this year it responded to 1,500 in just August and September alone.

“It has been a busy summer for us,” said Scott Isfan, community policing coordinator with the City of Kelowna.

Isfan said graffiti is such a problem, it’s required the city to hire staff dedicated solely to removing it on a daily basis.

“We have two staff that work eight hours a day, five days a week just cleaning up city property,” Isfan told Global News.

According to RCMP, a lot of the graffiti tags in recent months are the work of three men.

“They’ve done hundreds of tags between them throughout the downtown area, as well as the rest of Kelowna,” said Noseworthy.

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The RCMP has appealed for the public’s help in identifying the suspects by releasing surveillance photos of the three.

The taggers, who go by their tagging names, have allegedly been spray-painting both public and private property.

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“AWKWRD”, according to police, has been linked to 300 tags in the Kelowna area.

“SOJA”, the second suspect, has been active in the downtown core, according to police with more than 300 incidents this past summer.

And RCMP said a man, known by the tagging name of “SOCIAL” has tagged numerous public and private properties within the city.

“It’s vandalism, it’s a criminal act and you know, it is punishable in Canada,” said Noseworthy.

Penalties range from fines all the way to jail time depending on the severity of the graffiti vandalism but taggers are also subject to civil liabilities.

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Taxpayers are left with a big clean up bill.

According to the city, more than $400,000 is spent every year to remove graffiti from public property.

That’s in addition to the roughly $350,000 that homeowners and businesses fork out annually as it’s their responsibility to clean up private property.

“Graffiti breeds graffiti,” said Isfan. “So we really stress to to homeowners and citizens, the quicker you can clean it up, the less chance it is of it coming back.”

And while citizens are urged to clean up graffiti as soon as possible, they are also being strongly encouraged to report it when they see it or catch someone in the act.

“It’s not something to just look the other way on,” Noseworthy said. “If you see this happening, especially if you actually physically see it happening in the moment, please call us right away and let us know.”