By Josh Howald

The South-Bruce OPP wants to clean up this town.

Cst. Kevin Martin issued a media release in response to questions about graffiti, which has been popping up all over Kincardine. Many of the reports that have been reported to police have involved what appears to be the tag “FS”, pictured.

The marking have been spotted as far south as the cemetery, and as far north as Tim Hortons.

“When a person applies graffiti, they are committing a criminal code offence,” said Martin. “Mischief carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.”

Municipal crews have removed much of the graffiti, like the one on the drop box of the CIBC on Queen Street. But on a walk through the downtown core last Thursday, no less than nine examples of the “FS” tag were spotted. Businesses, mailboxes and lamp posts were all hit. Also, last month, 18 stop signs were defaced with the "Harper" being stencilled in underneath STOP.

“If left unchallenged, it suggests a community is apathetic about its appearance,” said Martin, “and most often leads to more graffiti being applied.”

In other cases reported to the South-Bruce OPP, vehicles, vending machines and heavy equipment have also been defaced.

Martin described graffiti as any writing, symbols or drawings applied to any surface without the owner’s consent. He said most acts of graffiti make reference to hip-hop culture, but are also used by gangs and other extremists.

In cities, they are used to mark the “territory” of certain factions who move illegal narcotics.

“Acts of graffiti can occur anywhere, and the resulting clean-up can become a significant burden on the municipal budget,” he said, but added the larger concern is the impact on a community’s beautification.”

Anyone with information on the graffiti is asked to contact police at 519-396-3341. If any person has information, but would like to remain anonymous, they can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or send a web-tip to crimestop-gb.org. You may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

*update: The Municipality has gotten back to The Independent with additonal informaton, so watch next week's edition for more.