Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll warns against vigilantism

Queensland’s top cop has warned of the stark dangers of a rise in vigilantism, as community members frustrated by soaring crime bypass police and take to social media to flush out offenders.

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The rise of vigilantism across Queensland will lead to a death in the community, the Police Commissioner has warned.

Police boss Katarina Carroll said the dangerous act of civilians taking law into their own hands had been a prevailing issue throughout Queensland’s prolonged crime wave.

But she said community members rallying on social media and sharing home address details of so-called crims was a “new phenomenon” and that added another layer of danger.

The Commissioner’s comments come after a group of more than 100 people roamed the streets of Rockhampton, whipped into a frenzy by former One Nation candidate Torin O’Brien.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says people should relying on police to track down offenders. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

“What we have is a group of people going to other peoples’ houses for this particular issue, and the information’s wrong,” Ms Carroll told reporters in Cairns.

“What we’ll end up with is a death.”

Other recent instances across Queensland include:

– An alleged vigilante chasing a stolen car lost control of his vehicle and crashed into 22-year-old motorcycle rider Jennifer Broad, killing her.

Christopher Michael Hughes was allegedly part of a Facebook community of vigilantes who hunted stolen cars with the intent of ramming them off the road. He has been charged with murder over the February, 2021 incident.

– The home of a teen girl alleged to have taken part in the shocking torture of another young girl was targeted by vigilantes when it was destroyed by fire in March.

Community members gather in Rockhampton responded to a callout by One Nation candidate Torin O’Brien.

Three girls, aged 12, 13 and 14, are facing charges after allegedly tying up and torturing a 13-year-old girl in an hours-long ordeal that involved punching, stabbing and burning her.

Footage of the incident was posted online and went viral, sparking community outrage. The Tewantin home where the alleged torture occurred was destroyed by fire in a vigilante attack.

– Tobias Alexander Fine, 21, was charged with manslaughter after he allegedly ran down and hit a motorbike he believed had been stolen from him.

Seventeen-year-old Jai Anderson died as a result of the March 4 collision, with police alleging later that Fine mistakenly believed the bike belonged to him.

The Commissioner pleaded with communities to not spread angry and confused details online and instead “please come to us”.

“We’re seeing vigilantes taking action against the wrong people,” she said.

“This is what we do – talk to us about this.

“It’s incredibly important that you do because we’ve seen a lot of stuff on social media and a lot of people just putting information out there that … is not correct and it’s extraordinarily dangerous.”

Jennifer Broad on the motorcycle she was riding when she was struck and killed in Townsville.

Ms Carroll said vigilantism had been a prevailing issue in the state, which resulted in the tragic death of innocent bystander Jennifer Broad in Townsville in early 2021.

But she revealed “it certainly is a new phenomenon – sharing information on social media, Facebook in particular, that people are acting on and we know that information is not always correct”.

The Commissioner said the actions of vigilantes diverted police away from investigating crimes.

“What I saw yesterday was police intervening to keep the peace, but would rather the public actually came to them than taking action into their own hands,” Ms Carroll said.

The home of a teen girl alleged to have taken part in the torture of another young girl was destroyed by fire in March.

“If you looked at the amount of police that were there yesterday (in Rockhampton), they would be better off spending time investigating that themselves and working in the community.

“This does take a lot of resources, and it took a lot of resources yesterday.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was “very concerned” by the behaviour and warned “someone could get hurt”.

“We employ skilled professionals that go through our police academies to get the training to deal with fighting crime,” she said.

“We should allow the police to do their job.”