THERE has been a rash of graffiti appearing over the past week in Okehampton.

‘It goes in spates,’ said one resident, who asked not to be named. ‘A lot has happened in the Station Road area in the past two or three nights.

‘We badly need a coordinated approach to paint out and clean up the graffiti to prevent any further escalation.’

Incidents included graffiti tags being spayed on garage doors, on lampposts and on parked vans and a road sign. It is mainly concentrated around the Station Road area.

Sgt Pennie Channing of Okehampton Police said that the daubing of graffiti on a transit van parked on Station Road had been reported to them, but none of the other incidents had. ‘If people do witness anti-social behaviour we urge them to report it to us.’

She added that Okehampton Police were looking into establishing a dedicated space in the town for graffiti artists to spray tags, to dissuade them from spraying elsewhere in the town.