Anger and outrage

I have never experienced such an outburst of collective anger and outrage before. I went for a quiet drink but was greeted by a whole pub talking about one thing only. The topic was, of course, the daubing of more graffiti around the Stonefield area the night before. Normally placid people are very angry indeed.

Let's be clear, the culprits derive their satisfaction from having their 'tags' seen by as many people as possible. So publishing photographs of their work is playing straight into their hands. That is why I shall not be publishing any photographs here, on Facebook or on Twitter.  Local councillors should resist the opportunity of local newspaper photo shoots. And declaring, as one councillor did last week, that "we will find out who you are" has probably taunted the culprits to even more activity. This could develop into a game of 'cat and mouse'.

If our local councillors have any power or influence at all, let them use it to make sure that Stafford Borough Council immediately send out their 'graffitti busters' team to eradicate the mess without delay. These eyesores should be removed tomorrow.

And the rest of us must do everything we can to make sure that the police can trace, apprehend and prosecute the offenders immediately. Someone knows something. Someone may have seen something. This is probably not the work of a single person - almost certainly the culprits will have had look-outs close by. The 'tags' mean something to certain people. Someone bought the spray paint. Someone in a house somewhere in the town knows something that could put a stop to this. The sooner the culprits are arrested the better - for their sake. The level of people's feelings last night worried me.