Vigilantes put on notice as locals take law into their own hands

The Police Commissioner has warned vigilantes they could be committing a crime themselves after two videos emerged of locals confronting ‘criminals’.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll has warned vigilantes they could be committing a crime themselves after two videos emerged of locals purportedly taking the law into their own hands.

In the first video, a motorist is seen chasing down teens in a stolen car, before crossing onto the wrong side of the road during the pursuit.

Footage of the chase, which happened on the Gold Coast on September 30, emerged in recent days, showing a man jumping into his car after spotting teens in a badly damaged Land Rover Range Rover.

The footage shows the Highland Reserve man chasing the Range Rover after it stopped to let out a teen girl, who took off on foot.

A Gold Coast man has performed a citizen's arrest on a teen who was allegedly in a stolen vehicle. Picture: Supplied

He chased the SUV down a suburban street and onto a main road, at times driving on the wrong side of the road, before turning around to confront the girl.

As he pulls up, he shouts “don’t you f…ing run”, followed by: “Stay there, don’t f…ing move. Get on your knees, get on your f…ing knees now.”

After cornering the girl in a driveway, the man used zip-ties to detain her.

The Highland Reserve man has not been charged with any crime, and there is no suggestion he should be charged with any crime.

The Queensland Police Service confirmed a teenage girl was taken into custody and given a notice to appear for unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

The stolen car was also found by police, with four boys, aged 13 to 14, charged with the same offence.

A Gold Coast man has performed a citizen's arrest on a teen who was allegedly in a stolen vehicle. Picture: Supplied

Meanwhile, another video posted to a Facebook page named Townsville Stolen Cars purportedly shows a vigilante recovering a stolen motorbike.

In the footage, a person can be seen sitting on a motorbike at a red light when another person approaches on foot, wrestling the rider from the bike and onto the ground in front of other vehicles waiting for the light to change.

A man commenting on the video says he is the owner of the motorbike and thanks the person depicted tackling the rider.

“The retrieval of my stolen KTM 450, if it wasn’t for this beautiful human being right here I wouldn’t be looking at my bike this morning,” he wrote.

After tagging another person, he continues: “We need more people like you! So glad you got your property back but I’m even happier that you gave him what he deserves”.

The man he tagged also commented on the post, writing: “I wish he stuck around for a yarn, but he had better places he needed to be.”

Others praise the man’s actions, with one person writing: “Awesome. Good on him for for (sic) getting the stolen bike back with a bit of force, what cops are unable to do. Would still be riding it next week otherwise. Nice to give the s***s a wake up call to show their (sic) not untouchable).

A vigilante purportedly takes back a stolen motorbike. Image: Facebook

Ms Carroll urged the public to leave crime fighting to the authorities.

“I’ve always been upfront about vigilantism,” Ms Carroll said.

“The concern I have there is, people who do that don’t have all the knowledge, the skills, particularly the knowledge and the information (that police have).

“We’ve seen examples of where vigilantism has gone wrong and people have died as a result and people have been injured as a result.

“So please report those matters to police, work with police, give us that information and we will take care of that.”

She said, speaking generally, vigilantes risk breaking the law themselves, with some people facing prosecution in previous cases.

“You’ve got to be careful that you yourself don’t commit a crime or commit an act where someone is hurt.

“And as a result, we’ve had examples where people have actually been charged as a result of that.

“So leave it to those people who do have the skills, the knowledge and actually can execute and are authorised to execute the law.”

Jennifer Board.

In 2021, 22-year-old motorbike rider and aspiring police officer Jennifer Board was killed when an alleged vigilante lost control while chasing a stolen car.

Christopher Michael Hughes, 28, is charged with manslaughter after his car veered onto the wrong side of a road in Townsville, hitting Ms Board and killing her.

The court on the last occasion heard that Hughes has not entered a plea but is expected to during his sentencing hearing date, which is set for November 3.