Communities are mobilising on Facebook to fight crime

When a Hampton Park man had his one-of-a-kind custom ute stolen from outside his home, he successfully turned to the internet to track it down. He’s one of thousands of Melburnians taking crime-fighting into their own hands thanks to social media.

Dean Nyitrai took to social media for help to find his distinctive ute. Picture: Jason Edwards

Melburnians are turning detective and taking crime solving into their own hands through community Facebook pages.

A Storyful and Leader Community News investigation has found 78 active community crime pages across Melbourne, with 350,000-plus members.

The engaged groups — one posting as frequently as 35 times a day — are harnessing the power of social media to mobilise their neighbourhoods for everything from tracking down car thieves to finding missing people.

But police have warned people of the pitfalls of posting crime-related content, from defamation and contempt of court to potentially jeopardising their own safety.

Followers and members ranged from almost 50,000 people — Casey Crime Page — to just a handful in Montrose.

Dean Nyitrai, 27, was left devastated when his custom 1974 Kingswood was stolen from outside his Hampton Park home. Picture: Jason Edwards

The majority of pages were created during 2015-16, when official crime statistics showed a spike in overall offences across Victoria — particularly burglary and theft.

Dean Nyitrai, 27, was left devastated when his custom 1974 Kingswood HQ One Toner was stolen from outside his Hampton Park home.

The young tradie had been working on the “one-of-a-kind” ute for years in the hope of showing it off at car meets across the state.

After filing a report with police he decided to take to social media to get the distinctive ute — which has a red front end and custom plates — back home.

“I posted it on Facebook and every website (for stolen cars) that I could think of as well as any (car) club pages,” he says.

The post gained traction and just a week later — after more than 3,500 shares online — Mr Nyitrai was reunited with his “baby”.

Damage from where the door was forced open. Picture: Jason Edwards

Online people power led to an arrest. Picture: Facebook

“The following Saturday it was spotted in Keysborough and that Sunday it was spotted at the carpark at Keysborough Shopping Centre,” he said.

“It was a random bloke who had seen my post the day before and spotted it.

“So I called the police, went down there and got it towed.

“If it wasn’t for social media there’s no way I would have got it back.”

An administrator from a page in the southeastern suburbs, who declined to be named, said the closed group was primarily an advocate for victims of crime as many members felt the justice system was “letting them down”.

“Gang-related crimes get a lot of attention (on the page) as people have had enough,” she said.

“People also want the court system to toughen up on criminals, they are calling for first-time offenders to feel the full brunt of the law.”

With tens of thousands of followers to keep in line, she said muting people who breached the page’s cyber-bullying rules was a daily occurrence and she could spend up to 18 hours a week moderating the group.

Police say criminals could be using Facebook to identify people they have stolen from, or to see how close they are to being caught. Picture: Generic.

“(One of the challenges we face is) eliminating criminals that have snuck onto the page, we also have a few members that can become verbally aggressive on the page and they are removed immediately,” she said.

She said the page had helped locate missing persons and stolen property.

“We are not a vigilante group and we do not encourage people to go on their own tangents of criminal-hunting,” she said.

Frankston Community Crime Group members foiled an alleged thief who’d got into a car near Monash University in July then absconded after being chased off, with shares and witness information leading to an arrest.

Victoria Police Inspector Martin Allison reminded people to consider the potential legal and safety ramifications of posting images relating to crime.

“Where local people are commenting on local pages, they need to be aware that other people in the community may know who they are and other personal details about them which could open them to inappropriate contact,” he said.

A theft posted on the Concerned Citizens Facebook page.

“Criminals can also access these public pages and use them to identify who they have stolen from and potentially how close they are to being caught.”

Insp Allison warned moderators to monitor posts and remove them if a criminal investigation had started, as comments or posts had the potential to affect the outcome of court matters.

“Those monitoring these pages should also ensure that any information they have on crimes or suspicious activity is reported through to police or Crime Stoppers so it can be followed up.”

Groups falling under the Neighbourhood Watch banner took a different approach and focused more on crime prevention.

“Police are appealing for witnesses following an incident in Epping on Wednesday evening. It is understood a man...

Posted by Neighbourhood Watch Whittlesea City on Wednesday, 18 September 2019

The Neighbourhood Watch Whittlesea City group, which has amassed more than 15,000 followers since 2016, works closely with local police and emergency services.

Volunteer administrator David Slattery said he spent about an hour a day monitoring the page, which primarily shared crime prevention tips, police and SES posts and — the always popular — police dog photos.

He said the page’s prevention tips had helped reduce the rate of opportunistic crimes in the area, with latest statistics showing a 15.46 per cent drop in burglaries and a 7.6 per cent decrease in thefts from motor vehicles in Whittlesea.

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RMIT communications senior lecturer Jenny Robinson said such facebook groups could engage and mobilise people in a positive way, provided they had clear objectives and weren’t hijacked by vigilantes.

“The most important thing is about having a clear guide for behaviour and a clear intention of what you want the page to be,” Dr Robinson said.

“Make sure you control the content and that comments don’t get out of hand.”