A RASH of anti-social behaviour and vandalism in Stone has spurred a group of residents on to fight back.
Two weekends in a row, the town centre has been struck by vandals who scrawled graffiti on shop fronts, bridges, benches and other locations around the town.
But locals are refusing to take the behaviour lying down and a group led by Christ Church youth worker Keiran McKnight gathered on Wednesday to clean up the ‘tags’.
"It's just an eyesore," said Mr McKnight. “People shouldn’t have to see that all over the town.”
He said a group of teenagers and community-minded folk from the church had been the first to agree to help, but that support from other areas had come in shortly afterwards, with a group of schoolchildren from Christ Church Academy and even the local PCSO joining in the clean-up effort.
“A few of them are university students who have finished for the summer and are back home and wanted to help out,” he said.
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police praised the clean-up operation, calling it an “excellent example of people working together for the benefit of their community”.
She said an investigation to locate those responsible for the graffiti was ongoing and encouraged people of the town to report any criminal damage they witnessed so appropriate action could be taken.
"Such acts of mindless vandalism will not be tolerated by Staffordshire Police and we are determined to track down those responsible,” she said.
"Anyone with information on the graffiti is asked to contact PCSO Jenny Ludlow-Smith at Staffordshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
