At around 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21, Public Security received a call from an angry resident who had spotted two teenage boys tagging the playground equipment in the park.

When Sgt. Greg McBain showed up with PSO Yook Wong in tow, they caught the boys spraying graffiti on one of the plastic tunnels. The youths were arrested on the spot and McBain called Station 12 police and the kids' parents.

But while the officers were still on the scene, the resident who'd called in the tip came to tell them how the graffiti had cut short her son's playtime.

"He couldn't even go down the slide anymore," McBain said, noting the child's snowsuit was stained by the pigment. "There was wet paint all over it."

The teens admitted to covering the playground equipment with messy tags and were found with black and yellow liquid paint, a black marker, and blue and orange spray paint cans in their possession.

"There's quite a bit of damage there," said McBain, who chided the teens for their graffiti — and their attitude. "It's good to catch these kids, get the word out and show it's unacceptable."

The parents of the teens weren't impressed by their behaviour. McBain said they wanted the two boys to clean the paint off the equipment, but it was too cold and special pressure cleaners are necessary for the job.

"Hopefully they've learned their lesson," he said. "But it costs money to remove."

Mcbain also said there's been a spike in graffiti in the past three weeks.

"It happens a lot during school and lunch hours," he said. "It seems to be a bit of a problem."