Nicole Kettings began in the new role recently, and said so far she had been researching everything from how other cities in New Zealand and overseas were dealing with the problem, to how to remove graffiti, and what goes on in the mind of a tagger.
Her first goal would be to come up with educational material that could be distributed in schools and businesses, "not just on why it's bad, but how to remove it".
Miss Kettings' two-year, 20-hour-a-week contract has been funded by the Ministry of Justice, and is under the supervision of Keep Dunedin Beautiful.
Based at the police station, she said she was combining her position with her studies towards a BA in community and family studies at the University of Otago.
Asked how she would judge her success in the role, Miss Kettings said she hoped to encourage more reporting to police of graffiti, "obviously, less graffiti", and to see more people taking action to get rid of it.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Darlene Thomson said one of Miss Kettings' jobs would be to talk to groups, businesses and schools about graffiti.
She would also work with affected property owners on ways to remove graffiti and how to prevent it from happening again.
"Firstly, the message will be that it's not all right, that graffiti is a crime and it must be reported to the police as soon as possible."
Mrs Thomson said removing graffiti quickly was the best way of preventing its recurrence.
