A $5,000 reward is being offered in order to find the suspect(s) in the graffiti cases around town.

The reward comes as graffiti cases have been rising around Westfield this summer. The cases have been centered both in the downtown area, along with in residential neighborhoods. The reward is being offered by the town in conjunction with the Union County Crimestoppers program. 

Part of the graffiti was the swastika found in Brightwood Park on Friday morning. The swastika, which was painted over by the Department of Public Works Friday afternoon, was in an area of the 44-acre nature preserve that has been dominated by graffiti. The remainder of the Brightwood graffiiti was painted over by the DPW on Friday.

The Downtown Westfield Corporation has been leading anti-graffiti efforts in recent weeks. DWC Executive Director Sherry Cronin has been working to identify and remove graffiti in the downtown business district. Cronin's son, Daniel, has also been working on the downtown's graffiti prevention efforts.

Cronin noted that graffiti removal can be an expensive endeavor for her agency, the town and businesses. She said one can of graffiti remover can cost $153 a case.

In the case of a tree, the graffiti remover cannot be used on the tree without killing the tree. Outside of painting over the graffiti, cutting down the tree is the only other option for removal.

Cronin, the co-chair of the Westfield in Bloom Committee, has made graffiti prevention a top cause of her's in recent years. Graffiti in Westfield, including in the downtown has been a staple the last few summers, when schools are not in session. The summer of 2011 has seen some of the highest amounts of graffiti tagging incidents in recent years.