Honourable Mentions

Detective Constables Elizabeth Miller and Valerie Spicer
Vancouver Police Department

The “RESTART” program (restorative art project) is a restorative justice approach to dealing with the problem of graffiti. Begun in 2001, the program gathered strength in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Detective Constables Elizabeth Miller and Valerie Spicer of the Vancouver Police Department researched and developed a plan to establish an Anti-Graffiti Unit. A wide variety of agencies were contacted to support this initiative, such as city engineering, property-use inspectors, school board officials, and members of the City's new Graffiti Management Team. Workshops and materials were developed with the assistance of Simon Fraser University fourth-year students and masters' program students interested in restorative justice. The primary objective of the program was to stop graffiti vandals from causing damage to property by developing training workshops for police officers (surveillance/active database); developing workshops for the graffiti offenders (including clean-up/apology); educating people on issues pertaining to graffiti; holding graffiti competitions to be displayed around construction sites; and identifying prolific vandals. Since inception of the program, the City of Vancouver has seen a 77% reduction in graffiti, saving the city millions of dollars.

Contact Persons:
Detective Constables Elizabeth Miller and Valerie Spicer
(604) 717-2981