A graffiti expert who helped catch a serial vandal who caused £12,500 worth of damage in Bath has been presented with a police award.
Bath and North East Somerset Council enforcement officer Andy Plummer was given a certificate of commendation by District Commander, Chief Supt Geoff Spicer.
The award follows the conviction of a 19-year-old man who sprayed graffiti tags on buildings across Bath between November 2012 and March 2013, causing £12,500 of damage.
Ch Supt Spicer said: "There's a real art to identifying who is responsible for graffiti and Andy is a specialist in his field – we're really grateful for what he can do.
"As a result of the time and effort that Andy and his team put in to the case, a successful prosecution was made."
The man was convicted of more than 60 acts of graffiti. He was given a three-month suspended sentence, 200 hours of unpaid community work and was electronically tagged.
Andy said: "I'm very flattered and honoured to receive this award, but it's really a team effort. We're just happy to be able to work with the police to identify people doing the graffiti and to bring them to justice."
Councillor David Dixon, B&NES Council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: "Similar to the skills of a graphologist, our enforcement team is highly skilled at detecting particular traits and hallmarks of the individuals who daub graffiti, using the photographs we take of every instance of graffiti reported to the council.
"The message is very clear. If someone is daubing graffiti illegally on private or public property and they think changing styles or tags will help them get away with it – think again. You will be tracked down and prosecuted."
