IF it’s important enough to post on Facebook, then it’s important enough to report to police.
That’s the message from Bunbury Police officer in charge Peter Jenal and Bunbury Crime Stoppers Facebook page administrator Greg Garbelini.
With about 15,500 members, Bunbury Crime Stoppers was hailed by Mr Garbelini as a “community within a community” where concerned locals can post the sighting of crimes in the Bunbury region.
But Mr Garbelini said the page was not associated with police and members should report directly to authorities.
“If you put it on Facebook then report it to the police, police are and should always be the number one point of contact if a crime is happening,” he said.
Mr Garbelini said the page had been a success story since it was created in July 2013, acting as a platform for community members to post crime sightings and vent about frustrations with local crime.
He denied the page created a false sense of insecurity and an inaccurate depiction of crime rates in Bunbury.
“At the end of the day it’s more of a forum so the more people that know about the crimes, the better,” he said.
“If the crimes are on the page, it’ll make items of theft very hard to sell on social media pages.
“There are pros and cons of everything and social media can easily get out of hand.
“At the end of the day there is no point in keeping your head in the sand, the crime rate has definitely improved and any similar page in any other town shows the same thing.”
But officer in charge Peter Jenal said the page was not monitored heavily by police.
“If people witness an offence or have information, they can report online through our reporting system or by calling crime stoppers,” he said.
“We have our own Twitter and Facebook pages where we share information with the public to request information.”
If you have information about a crime, call Bunbury Police Station on 9722 2111 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
