Wiltshire Police Inspector Lisette Harvey wants to bring an end to the anti-Polish graffiti being scrawled on walls across Trowbridge.

Over the winter, offensive slogans about the Polish community have been written on town centre buildings in black pen.

Insp Harvey, based at Trowbridge Police Station, is appealing to the public for help in catching the culprits, saying they will be dealt with robustly.

She said the town has a diverse population and no element deserved abuse . Given the racist connotations of the slogans the punishment could be severe.

Howard Edgington, who runs Howard Travel in Church Walk, has had anti-Polish graffiti written on the outside of his shop.

He said: “Trowbridge’s retailers are doing all they can to improve the quality of the town for local people and mindless vandalism like this doesn’t help.”

It is the responsibility of property owners to remove graffiti from their buildings and Trowbridge Town Council is working to remove it from their properties.

Bill Austin, head of the town council’s direct services, said they had tried to get rid of the graffiti as quickly as possible and it appeared to be one person with a black felt tip pen making trouble.

Insp Harvey added: “Once we’ve identified the person we need to establish why they have been doing this.”

To give information call Wiltshire Police on 101.