By Jessica Rowe
An 18-year-old described as a promising sportsman has admitted vandalising more than 30 bus windows by scratching or etching them.
Jack Dargan's one of eight people who've been arrested as Christchurch cracks down on bus vandalism. Security footage caught the young etcher in action. He moves from window to window, leaving his mark scratched into the glass.
Senior Sergeant Glenn Nalder says the damage has been expensive.
“Etching and damage in Christchurch buses was prevalent up until recently. Until we ran the operation it was costing over half a million dollars to fix.”
Undercover cops have been riding on buses and when a passenger is spotted etching, he's arrested.
Dargan was caught up in the crackdown and has admitted scratching 33 windows on 14 buses. He now faces a reparation claim of more than $2000.
Today he appeared in court and was remanded on bail.
The police asked 3 News not to show the etching tags, as it would give the offenders exactly what they are looking for – fame and notoriety.
Red Bus chief executive Paul McNoe says the company is taking an organised approach to combat etching.
“When we find a tag, what we do is take a camera image of it, put a sticker over [it] – just to identify it – [and] put the date and time over that.”
He says the campaign's working well.
“Between $20,000 and $30,000 dollars each month has been spent on repairing windows, so it has been an ongoing repetitive issue, which this is really bringing under control.”
The operation has been so successful they're planning to implement it across the city's entire network.
3 News