Improved security, vigilant repainting and monitoring of two hydro boxes that were being smeared with bullying messages have wiped out the nasty writings, the head of the Graffiti Task Force said Monday.

However, the practice needs to be nipped in the bud if it reappears, said Ronnie Bouvier.

“It’s not an issue right now,” she told the City’s co-ordinated enforcement task force.

The bully boards, as the offensive graffiti is called, targeted certain school students and in some cases even listed their phone numbers or addresses.

Bouvier compared it to the old-fashioned practice of writing mean things on bathroom walls. Only bully boards are in more public spaces.

Cleaning up two prominent bully boards in Kamloops was one of her agency’s projects last year. So was getting on top of as much of the vulgar graffiti being posted around town as possible, she said.

Already this year, Bouvier said she’s had to clean up graffiti in Riverside Park three times.

“I like cold weather” because the paint doesn’t stick well, she said.

Anti-graffiti efforts like wrapping hydro and Canada Post boxes aren’t working well in some cities because the plastic wraps are being cut off or damaged with acid.

Instead, she’s hoping to see the boxes primed and have art classes or youths paint murals on them, then coat them with a protective covering.

Her efforts this year will focus on getting residents and business owners to realize if someone tags their property, it’s up to them to wipe it out as fast as possible.

The faster graffiti is removed, the more it discourages others from following suit, she said.