Just because a handful of people have done time and didn't stop doesn't mean there is a very significant deterrent effect to others. And tbh repeat offenders should be the easiest to catch; you have their details, you know what their tag looks like, should be pretty trivial. Especially when they do interviews with national newspapers confessing to continuing!
From my reading of various things the UK used to be seen as a very "harsh" country for graffiti punishments, but it seems to me over the last decade or so the police have given up trying to catch people.
And to be clear; I'm not suggesting we divert all of BTP to catching taggers. I strongly believe a group of 5-10 officers could make enormous headway in it given it is so few people committing so much damage.
Unless the courts are prepared to give these graffiti vandals actual prison time, I fear there is little to be gained by catching them in the act.
What is really shocking is it's often the same locations over and over again where trains are getting vandalised; it must be worth investing in a higher level of security at those locations.
I definitely agree that rolling stock thus vandalised should be pulled from service and cleaned immediately, even at the expense of a higher number of cancellations. It should also be made clear exactly what the reason for the cancellation is - it would help generate some pressure in society against such acts in the first place.
Any pictures published online of the results of such vandalism should have the details blurred out - that way we can see the extent of the damage without giving the individual vandals the publicity for their scrawlings that they seek.
The thing is the courts WILL give them serious prison time (and used to regularly, but it seems the police have stopped catching them).
www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk
Graffiti like this is in the highest category of culpability - it's pre planned and by nature tries to do the most damage as possible. It's also probably in the highest level of harm because of the value and the economic and social impact of the offense (taking trains out of service etc).
As such the sentencing guidelines state 6months minimum prison - 4 years jail time, with the starting point being 1 year 6 months. Given that a lot of the aggravating factors will apply it is actually very difficult for the judge to not give serious prison time for this kind of stuff.
