Protective Service Officer booths on Melbourne's railway stations are being targeted by vandals, who are expressing their contempt with explicit graffiti.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
About 20 of these booths, also known as “pods”, are graffitied every month, according to Metro. The Belgrave and Frankston lines were the worst hit, in a string of attacks in June.
The 80 pods across the network, which can be used as holding cells, were built using part of the $78 million from the state government’s last budget to serve the needs of the officers, providing toilets and work rooms.
Metro estimates that it costs $7 million a year to clean graffiti across the network.
“Public Transport Victoria and transport operators take any form of graffiti or vandalism seriously,” Transport Minister Terry Mulder said in an emailed statement to Fairfax Media.
“The message to vandals is that we are watching you.”
If caught by an Authorised or Protective Service Officer, adult offenders who vandalise station property, including PSO pods, receive a $289 infringement, while youths under the age of 18 are fined $74.
PSOs currently patrol 127 stations around Melbourne.
There were 45 attacks on PSOs in the last financial year, according to police data, jumping from nine in 2011-2012.
