Facebookbrawl

By Lilly O’Gorman
POLICE prevented a potentially violent brawl and seized weapons in John Street Pakenham, after being tipped off about a scheduled fight posted on Facebook.
Senior Sergeant Graham Higginbotham said a number of police units attended John Street at 1.15am on Saturday 7 January, after receiving information from a Facebook post that a brawl was to take place near Pakenham Place.
Police spoke to nine young-adult males gathered at the advertised location, before a car containing a group of males also arrived at the scene.
Sen Sgt Higginbotham said police searched the vehicle and found weapons including a metre-long steel pole and a garden hoe.
One male has been interviewed in relation to weapons offences and has been released pending further inquiries, with charges expected in the near future. Several of the other males have also been released pending further investigations.
Sen Sgt Higginbotham said police prevented a large affray thanks to careful monitoring of social media.
“Through intelligence operatives and experts, police actively monitor Facebook postings,” he said.
“We can monitor key words and if there is an issue or a threat on Facebook then we can become aware of it.”
He said details on a public wall could be viewed by anyone, including police, and could be brought to the attention of authorities by others who saw them.
“If anyone has a concern or believes something suspicious, dangerous or threatening is occurring online, they should let police know and we can head things off and be pro-active.”
Though this type of organised brawl via social media was uncommon in Cardinia Shire, Sen Sgt Higginbotham said one such event was too many and of concern to police.
He warned that many people were unaware of the serious consequences of promoting fights and violence on social media.
“It’s a crime to incite this sort of behaviour in the first place,” he said.
“You have to be careful with what you put on social media sites, as there are criminal charges if you encourage, promote or become involved in things like this. Even if you ‘like’ or ‘forward’ these posts, it could be a criminal offence.”