Identity sought in tagging enquiry

Christchurch Police investigating the tagging of the CTV Building memorial site and other central city locations have released a series of security camera images in an effort to identify potential offenders.

Police now believe the CTV site was tagged on the night of Saturday 3 August, along with several other locations in the central city.

Senior Sergeant Phil Dean says Police were contacted yesterday by the owners of C1 Espresso cafe, who believed they had identified possible taggers in their own security camera footage.

"The footage was extremely useful," he says. "Once we had that information we were able to pinpoint the likely date, time and location of the tagging activity," he says.

"That gave us a starting point to review footage from our own crime cameras in the central city.

"As a result we have identified a group of individuals that we would like to speak to."

Senior Sergeant Dean says a group of three males was seen on security cameras walking around the central city between approximately 11.00pm and 11.30pm on Saturday 3 August.

A number of locations in the vicinity appear to have been tagged around that time. The tag locations match the movements of this group, and in one image a man appears to be writing on a set of traffic barriers.

In addition to a sign at the CTV site, other locations tagged include C1 Espresso, a construction site fence on Armagh Street, a power box on Manchester Street, traffic barriers at the intersection of Cashel and High Streets, and a number of signs around Lichfield and Manchester Streets.

"The fact that such a number of sites were tagged around the same time suggests that these were opportunistic incidents, and that the CTV and other memorial sites may not necessarily have been deliberately targeted.

"All the same, the vandalism of these sites is extremely distressing for the families of those who died and for the wider community."

"We would like these people to contact us, or if anyone can help with information leading to their identification, please get in touch with Police."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Christchurch Police District Command Centre on (03) 3637580.

Alternatively, to provide information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

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