By Cam Lucadou-Wells
IS the rise of crime-reporting Facebook pages in Casey becoming the new Neighbourhood Watch?
Members are flocking onto Facebook groups such as Churchill Park Estate Residents Group, Berwick Crimefighters and Narre Warren North Crime and Theft.
The posts regularly report sightings of suspicious cars and people, burglaries and thefts of cars and number plates in the pages’ locales.
Star News spoke with a group member Mick Drane at the Casey Residents Crime Prevention Gathering – an event that was largely promoted on Facebook.
Mr Drane, one of 230-plus members of the closed page Churchill Park Estate Residents Group, said the page was a function of changing neighbourhoods.
“We live behind closed doors. We don’t know our neighbours as well as we use to.
“This opens up those doors in a way.
“It’s a modern-day Neighbourhood Watch.”
Mr Drane said the page also created security awareness among residents, passing on information about a suspicious car loitering in the area.
Some members, who “prefer not to know” about the large volume of incidents, were however turned off by the hyper-vigilance, he says.
“I think knowledge is power. It’s surprising to know how much crime is going on.”
An interesting topic on one of the Casey-based Facebook pages gives some insight to the level of fear among residents.
It was raised on the closed forum whether criminals were scanning the Facebook groups for members’ names – and looking up addresses in the White Pages.
It was thought up by one of its members as they were “lying in bed thinking about these bastards”.
Neighbourhood Watch Casey has its own Facebook page but co-ordinator Rob Ward encourages residents to get to know their neighbours the old-fashioned way.
“I’m on a first name basis with everyone in our street,” Mr Ward said.
“When there’s a strange vehicle in our area, we know about it.”
Facebook groups were more likely to report suspicious activity among members, but residents in an active Neighbourhood Watch area were more likely to report to police and Crime Stoppers.
“Reporting something to Facebook doesn’t result in action.”
Mr Ward said Neighbourhood Watch was “thriving”, partly relying on social media with more than 2000 likes on its actively updated Facebook page.
Impressed with the Casey Residents Crime Prevention Gathering, he said the group was set to host a community event in Cranbourne South in October.
