Wannanup church community 'heartbroken' by pointless graffiti spree

Waratah church member Alycia Randell said their sign, which was commissioned to deter graffiti vandals, was damaged overnight on May 12.

"Research has shown that when you have painted artwork, it reduces juvenile tagging - they don't tend to tag over it," she said.

"We were really surprised.

"Local artist Tahnee Kelland had hand-painted the botanical statement piece for us - she does beautiful artworks and murals.

"It's frustrating someone can do that in 10 seconds, which then takes hours to paint over and thousands of dollars to clean up."

Ms Randell said was shocked to find premises along the entire road had been targeted by the vandals.

"I drove up the stretch from Cafe Coast to Miami Plaza," she said.

"I counted more than 20 tags, from the same person. It was heartbreaking to see.

"The cost is great to the entire community."

Ms Randell said it cost the church about $1000 to repaint the damaged sign.

"We are putting anti-graffiti sealer on top, so if it happens again, we can remove the tags easily and protect the artwork," she said.

Ms Randell said the Mandurah Police and City of Mandurah response was "amazing".

Mandurah Police Senior Sergeant Darren Hart said no suspects had been identified and no one is yet to be charged.

Senior Sergeant Hart said the maximum penalty for damaging property by graffiti was a $24,000 fine or two years in prison.

"In many cases offenders can also face the clean-up costs," he said.

"Possessing articles for graffiti or selling articles for graffiti to children also attract large fines."

Senior Sergeant Hart said the challenge for police in charging an offender was gathering the evidence to locate and identify the culprit.

"Members of the public who see suspicious behaviour should gather as many details as they can without putting themselves at risk and call police," he said.

"As a connected and proactive community we can work together to limit this type of offending even further."