After this paper published a report concerning a rash of graffiti incidents in town, Orangeville police received several tips from citizens that have led to arrests.

According to Const. Scott Davis, spokesperson for the Orangeville Police Service (OPS), information from one anonymous tipster led to a snowballing of information.

"One name led to another name and even though we have identified a number of youths involved, it isn't over yet," Const. Davis said.

"At this time we are only saying a number of youth because we don't know how many may be involved."

Those arrested and charged thus far are all youths and can't be identified because of their age. Several are charged with a number of offences of mischief. One youth is facing charges in connection with more than 17 incidents.

In newspaper articles last month, police asked for the public's help when they noticed two new tags that had appeared in Orangeville. Anyone with knowledge concerning the tags or of the identity of the person(s) responsible is asked to come forward to help police find out who was using the words "Vane" and "Crem" in the graffiti.

Const. Davis says information received from the public, in combination with the police investigation, has led to more than 50 acts of mischief involving graffiti in the past four months being solved.

He wouldn't comment as to whether the recent arrests involved the "Vane" and "Crem" tags they were looking for, saying it is still "an active investigation".

"We are looking at all incidents of graffiti," said Const. Davis. "The two tags we identified last month were just an example of some of the tags we identified but it's all relevant in the investigation."

Another incident of graffiti last month that said, "Go Northmen Go," appeared on an outside wall at Boston Pizza. The same graffiti also appeared on a building at the old Springbrook Elementary School property.

Boston Pizza spokesperson Robyn Gonsalves said they would be very interested in finding out who was responsible for the graffiti.

"It's a real shame things like this have to happen," Ms. Gonsalves said. "We would like to see the person responsible caught."

Const. Davis says when a business is tagged with graffiti, one of the best deterrents is to have the graffiti removed as quickly as possible after the incident is reported.

Boston Pizza covered the Northmen graffiti with paint and is repainting the entire wall. The graffiti on the school building was removed within days of it appearing.

In Shelburne last week, police arrested one youth in connection with graffiti incidents in the town.

Sgt. Mark Bennett, spokesperson for the Shelburne Police Service, said the youth has been charged with eight counts of mischief.

"The investigation is continuing," Sgt. Bennett said.

He says the arrests in Orangeville are unrelated to the arrest in Shelburne but both towns continue to share information about graffiti.

"With our one arrest last week and Orangeville's eight, it will make a difference but there is still work to do," said Sgt. Bennett.

Const. Davis hopes the arrests send a strong message to those involved. He believes the information given to police was crucial in finding those responsible.

"This is yet another example of why it is so very important that these types of incidents get reported to police and that citizens do their part in passing on information to help us identify the persons responsible for these acts," he said in a press release.