Deb Hann – Senior Constable at the Cambridge Farmers’ Market. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Starting with a good resolution – police became aware of a serious assault that happened recently in town.
The good news is that people have been identified and are being held to account. It highlighted two things to me, however. Firstly, the incident happened without any immediate report to police despite there being members of the public nearby.
Secondly, the incident was videoed and shared online, exacerbating the harm and possibly glorifying the offenders.
Deb Hann – Senior Constable
If you see something happening, particularly involving harm to another person, please call 111. In relation to the video, sharing such videos causes digital harm to others. It ties nicely into the next topic I want to discuss today.
As a police officer, I see first-hand the damage scammers, sextortion, online bullying and more in the online world can cause our community. This is a topic that has featured recently in the news too. Do you know what your kids are viewing online? Are you aware of the types of things they could be viewing and the impact that will be having on them? Last week I attended a cybersafety evening at Cambridge Middle School run by author and speaker Rob Cope. I found it very informative and it was good to see the high level of attendance by parents.
I think for many the presentation would have been a bit of an eye opener but it is good to be fully informed and to have an outside perspective as parents. I fully recommend that if any parents of tweens or teens have the opportunity to attend such presentation, they do so.
Last Saturday I worked one of my regular early shifts. I started the day with a foot patrol around the top of town and the Farmers’ market. Thank you to those who stopped for a conversation. Following that, a colleague and I attended multiple reports of damage to and attempted theft of vehicles in the Cambridge East area. Similar incidents happened on Thursday and Saturday nights.
Enquiries continue and as always if you have any information that may assist police with our investigation, phone 105. The majority of cars targeted were parked on the roadside. While a determined offender will commit crime regardless, this is another reminder to make your car as unattractive to thieves as possible. If your street has one way in and one way out, consider organising for the neighbourhood to jointly fund a CCTV camera capturing activity at the start of the road, and possibly near any walkway access elsewhere. Where costs are divided between many, this can be an affordable option. Have a good week.
