Queensland’s police commissioner has warned there could be fatal consequences if vigilantes continue to take the law into their own hands in response to youth crime.
Katarina Carroll was speaking after a mob of 30 people surrounded a home in Rockhampton on Sunday following a social media post accusing two teenage residents of criminal activity.
The commissioner said she was waiting to be briefed about whether any charges would be pursued against those who attended the scene, who were acting on incorrect information.
“The stuff on social media is pure speculation,” she said.
“What we have is a group of people going to people’s houses for this issue, and the information is wrong.
“So be careful. What we’ll end up with is a death. We’ve seen that before. What you see on social media is not evidence and the people feeding this don’t have the skills or the knowledge or the information that police have in doing their jobs.”
Carroll pointed out the strain caused by the vigilante behaviour on police resources, after a wall of officers was present to stand between the angry crowd and the Rockhampton house.
“You looked at the amount of police that were there yesterday, they would be better off spending time investigating [the alleged crimes] themselves and working out in the community,” she said.
Queensland police have repeatedly cautioned against vigilantism, with local officers warning Toowoomba and Townsville locals against such behaviour.
Carroll said the death of Jennifer Board, who was allegedly killed by a man involved in a “vigilante” pursuit, had shown the “devastating” consequences of taking the law into your own hands.
The state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, urged Queenslanders to let the police do “their jobs”.
Asked to condemn the vigilante behaviour, Palaszczuk would only say she was “very concerned”.
“We acknowledge that people have very strong feelings about this in their local community but there are police there that are on the ground, that are there to serve the community, and to actually … resolve these issues.
“Someone could get hurt, there could be unforeseen consequences …
“We should allow the police to do their job.”
The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, urged against vigilantism but said he would not condemn the behaviour because “the community is at breaking point” and he didn’t wish to “pour fuel on the flames”.
“No one wants to see vigilantism in the community – full stop, end of story,” Crusafulli said.
“What I want to see is more police to be able to do the job and the laws for them to be able to actually keep the community safe.”
