CYBER-bullying has been blamed for an escalation of youth violence in Albury.
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Police yesterday issued a warning about an increasing number of young people becoming involved in violent brawls.
They say the incidents are often linked to social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, where insults and threats have been posted on the internet.
“There’s been an alarming increase in the number of reports we’ve had of kids being bullied over social networking sites like Facebook where cowards get on the computer ... and put some pretty nasty comments on there,” Insp John Wadsworth, of Albury police, said.
“What we’re also finding as a result of this is there’s been a spike in assaults with young kids involved.”
Police said children as young as 10 were embroiled in the violence, with the average age being between 12 and 16.
Fights usually took place after school, between 3pm and 5pm, and at a variety of locations including skate parks and shopping centres.
Sen-Constable Francine Lee, school liaison officer with Albury police, said teachers and principals were often left to deal with the juveniles who were becoming increasingly aggressive towards each other and deciding to take matters into their own hands.
“What they’ve got is a group of children who have been fighting online at home in the afternoon and into the evening and then at school the next day you’ve got teachers that are trying to deal with kids that just can’t get along,” she said.
“That’s difficult; they are trying to educate the kids but on top of that they have to deal with the social aspects of a lack of skills when it comes to conflict resolution.”
Sen-Constable Lee called on parents, friends and coaches to educate children about the dangers of violence.
“The parents have actually to teach their kids how to resolve conflicts without using their fists,” she said.
The Scots School Albury principal Heather Norton said parents had alerted staff to incidents of cyber-bullying and they had been dealt with immediately.
“It’s not a huge issue here, but there are times where unkind remarks are written mainly on Facebook and we feel it’s our responsibility to let them see the effects of that comment on the other person,” she said.
