Police are investigating three YouTube videos – posted to the site last week – that show masked youths running up to waiting commuter trains and spraying them with their nicknames, or “tags”.

In one video, four are almost hit by a train as they stand on the tracks tagging a stationary carriage. The oncoming train is heard repeatedly sounding its horn.

Another shows passengers watching from an open door while two youths – one with his face covered with a scarf and the other wearing a hooded top – spray large tags on the side of a train.

The third video shows a vandal carrying out a similar attack on another stationary train near the driver’s cabin.

It is not clear where the incidents took place.

If caught, the vandals face fines of up to $430 each for each count of railway trespass and graffiti, and could be taken to court to recover cleaning costs. Police crime prevention officer Senior Constable Helen Martin said police were confident of catching the culprits.

“Our intelligence section is right on it, they’re well aware of it,” she said. “We pretty much know whose tags they are.

“The same tags are appearing all the time. We do know people who belong to certain tags, and there are a few new ones.

“What we try and do is put an operation together to try and catch them in the act or to find out who the person is that belongs to a particular tag.”

Sen-Constable Martin said while the number of graffiti incidents had remained steady over the past few years, it was becoming more common for vandals to publicise their work on the internet. “It’s an identity for them. If they show their tags on YouTube it becomes this identity. That’s all it is to them – notoriety,” she said. Sen-Constable Martin said the possibility of a vandal being killed by a train was highly likely.

“When they get caught in the act they take off and there’s the possibility (of being hit) by a train,” she said.

“It’s only a matter of time before we see a fatality because of it.”

TransAdelaide spends about $350,000 a year removing graffiti from trains, buses and trams.

Last year’s budget also saw an additional $2.6 million in government funding specifically for graffiti removal and extra security guards on public transport.

TransAdelaide chief executive Bob Stobie said that efforts were made to clean graffiti from trains as quickly as possible.

“Any railcar found to have been graffitied is removed from service for cleaning as soon as possible after detection,” he said.

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The train was bound for Adelaide from suburban Noarlunga at about 9pm on January 31 when it was forced to stop at Christie Downs after the gang tampered with railway signals.

Although the incident happened on Saturday night, police only revealed it today and called for witnesses to come forward.

“When the train stopped, a group of approximately 10 people all dressed in dark clothing and wearing hoods or garments over their heads appeared and started to graffiti the outside of the train,” a police spokesman said today.

“The train was extensively damaged by graffiti murals and tags.”

Police said the same train was also attacked by graffiti artists at Brighton Railway Station about 30 minutes later.

The next day, another train operating in the Adelaide Hills was forced to stop after signals were tampered with but there was no graffiti attack.
Opposition transport spokesman Duncan McFetridge said it was “almost unbelievable” that this could happen in Adelaide and be kept secret for nearly a week.

He said commuters were entitled to know it there was a safety risk on their line.

“It’s also proof positive that despite seven years of talk, the Government has failed to dent the activities of graffiti gangs,” he said.

“These incidents take the threat of graffiti vandals to new levels.”

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson is conducting a major review of the state’s graffiti laws in a bid to combat the rising rate of offences.

He has confirmed the review in a letter to independent MP Bob Such, who has been a long-time campaigner for stricter graffiti laws in SA.

Story and video: Vandals attack Blackwood Train Station

Dr Such has had as many as three Bills before Parliament proposing stricter controls on the sale of graffiti materials.

He said they had been withdrawn because the Government had said it was reviewing current legislation.

One of Dr Such’s Bills specifically related to graffiti attacks on trains and railway stations based on recommendations from the NSW Police Association.

However, he said it had not been proceeded with because the State Government regarded it as too tough.

Dr Such said he was convinced there were organised gangs behind the graffiti attacks at Noarlunga and also on the Belair railway line.

“This is not kids with textas,” he said. “They are highly sophisticated gangs with state of the art materials, including ladders and cameras.”

The spokesman said police would like to hear from witnesses to any of the incidents – call BankSA Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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