The project, called Get A GRIP, was launched yesterday at Sutherland PCYC.

It is a joint initiative of Sutherland PCYC, the police youth command, Sutherland and Mirand police commands and Sutherland Shire Council.

Sutherland Shire Mayor Lorraine Kelly said that in the past, young people who had received cautions did not necessarily learn from their mistakes.

"As far as we are aware, this is the first program of its kind in NSW that includes the ability for offenders to voluntarily take part in graffiti clean up and education, or for parents to enter their child in the program if they are caught vandalising,'' Cr Kelly said.

Under Get a GRIP (GRIP stands for "graffiti removal intervention project''), young people eligible for a police caution will instead be offered the opportunity to

attend a two-hour session about the legalities of graffiti as a crime, its cost and impact on the community.

They will then take part in a six-hour clean-up session.

Parents whose children are caught in the act can also elect to enter their child in the program, which will take offenders referred by the juvenile justice system.

Cr Kelly said other rehabilitation clean-up programs for graffiti offenders in NSW generally only included those who received court-imposed sentences or orders through the juvenile justice system.

She said some parents of children caught for graffiti offences wanted their children to be responsible for their actions, but previously there was no such avenue available.

Senior Constable Michelle Druery, youth case manager of Sutherland PCYC, said the Get A GRIP program was a response to community concerns.

"It is not going to solve every graffiti hot spot in the shire, but if we reach at least some of these offenders it will help make inroads into reducing the problem in the future,'' she said.