Some people may not regard graffiti as a serious form of vandalism. It does not, after all, involve actual structural damage. Yet it makes a terrible mess, helps to create a debilitating impression of neglect and criminality in those areas affected by it, and costs a great deal of money to put right.

Bradford Council estimates that it spends around £100,000 a year cleaning up the "artistic" daubings of graffiti vandals - money which it certainly could put to better use elsewhere. The cost to individuals and businesses on top of that is hard to calculate. One store manager quoted in our story today says that his company's premises are regularly targeted and only the other day they had to have a van resprayed.

Multiply that many times over for the countless other incidents of graffiti vandalism and it become obvious that this is no minor problem. Much of it, though, is thought to be the work of a small number of individuals. They need to be stopped.

Hopefully, the initiative launched by the police and Bradford Council, offering £500 rewards to people who help to bring to justice any of the city's three most prolific "taggers", will lead to an improvement in the situation. For the campaign to succeed it will need the support of the whole community.

The team behind it are asking the public to act as their eyes and ears and tell them who the culprits are. They also want shops which sell spray paint to become involved. It is up to all of us to do what we can to help this drive to succeed.