Vigilante squads ‘will end in death’, warns senior cop
The rise of vigilantism across Queensland will lead to a death in the community, the Police Commissioner has warned after an angry mob swarmed homes in Rockhampton.
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.
“What we have is a group of people going to other peoples’ houses for this particular issue, and the information’s wrong,” Ms Carroll said. “What we’ll end up with is a death.”
A defiant Mr O’Brien said they were “taking neighbourhood watch to a new level”.
“Tomorrow more people are going to get robbed and more people are going to have their cars stolen.
“I don’t care how old, if you are a danger and violent and you bring something to me, I am going to bring it back and it’s about time people stop walking on eggshells around them.”
Mr O’Brien admitted things could have turned ugly.
“If those 100 plus people decided not to listen to the police and do what they want, they could have, there were that many,” he said.
“That’s really important that we don’t let that happen.
“If someone goes out and does something stupid, it’s not part of what I am doing but I am not going to say they don’t have a reason.”
The Commissioner pleaded with people 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.”
Ms Carroll said vigilantism had resulted in the tragic death of innocent bystander Jennifer Broad in Townsville in early 2021.