A tagger claiming he is a "menace to society" has left his mark on one of Dunedin's largest stores.
Morning commuters stopped to gaze and take photos of the Farmers store, after the George St shop's first level had been covered with the giant spray-painted tags spelling "Risk".
Store manager Shelly Gilchrist said the tags were "quite ironic for us as it is very on trend for this season ... It is all about colour".
The store had been tagged before, but "never on this scale", and she had a simple message for the culprit.
"He said it in his own words - he is a menace to society," she said, referring to the message painted above the entrance.
Mrs Gilchrist confirmed the store would review its CCTV footage in order to assist police inquiries.
In addition, the tagger targeted Albion Lane and the site of the new Lone Star restaurant, both off George St.
Farmers management was talking to the landlord about clean-up costs, and the graffiti was likely to be removed as soon as practicable.
Roger Knauf, of Graffiti Doctor, who assessed the damage yesterday morning, advised the store that given the size of the tag it would be cheaper to paint over the damage.
With no anti-graffiti paint used on the affected area, he estimated removal would cost between $1500 and $2000.
The tagging, which was likely to have been carried out early yesterday, was one of the largest he had seen on a central city building.
The tag had begun appearing around Dunedin streets over the past month, and he estimated it would have taken "Risk" between 30 and 45 minutes and multiple cans of spray paint to tag Farmers.
Mr Knauf said he always busy and was also contracted to remove graffiti from most council property, ranging from parking meters to transformers.
He kept photographic records of the graffiti, and supplied information at the request of police.
Using those records, police were able to retrospectively charge taggers with each offence, and this also helped to determine the amount of reparation ordered if the offender was caught.
"[In Dunedin] we don't have a major problem, because when it does crop up it gets dealt with immediately."
Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken said extra staff would patrol affected areas in an effort to deter similar attacks. Anyone who saw a tagger defacing property was urged to contact police immediately.
Dunedin City Council staff would meet police today to discuss graffiti.
