City of York Council is working with the police to tighten the net on people who commit anti-social behaviour in York.

The council has teamed up with North Yorkshire Police to share information about those responsible for creating graffiti in a bid to catch and punish the perpetrators.

Liz Levett, the council's street environment manager, said: "The council's Street Environment service holds a lot of information about where graffiti is throughout the city, including photographs of the types of graffiti and the graffiti tags used. The information is compiled by the street environment officers who are out in the graffiti hotspots everyday.

"The information provides a useful 'database' for the police and we have agreed to work closely together to catch and prosecute those responsible for graffiti."

The police will be able to use the information stored on the council's system to see if the perpetrator has used matching ' tags' in other areas, and whether they can be charged for previous graffiti problems."

The Street Environment team is also working with the Youth Offending Team so that, where appropriate, those responsible for the graffiti can be involved n cleaning it off."