Police warn the public against vigilante behaviour after a group of residents marched on the homes of alleged offenders, on one occasion chasing a person down the street.
Key points:
Former One Nation candidate and Rockhampton kickboxing gym owner Torin O'Brien organised the rally after an alleged break-in at a relatives' home, with around 100 people gathering to hear him speak at a public park. Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll echoed those sentiments, saying it was dangerous to rely on information shared via social media.
Youth justice experts and youth advocates say they are extremely concerned about vigilante behaviour, while some victims of crime argue incidents such as the rally in Rockhampton are a product of frustrations not being addressed.Community frustrations Those statistics are of no surprise to Yeppoon business owner Anne Fursman, whose sports store has been broken into five times in the past 10 months.
But for local business owner and human rights advocate Zhanae Dodd, the public taking crime "into their own hands" is a scary and harmful response to a complex social issue.
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