Don’t come down on her too hard, they say

THE general community will take a dim view, if the response on social media is any indication, if police chiefs come down hard on a young, female officer who joined New Year’s Eve celebrations on Phillip Island last Saturday night.

A video has emerged on TicTok of the police officer being pushed around a central Cowes roundabout, interacting with the crowd, while she is videoed by members of the community and fellow officers.

It was all harmless fun in keeping with the moment and the response on Facebook and other social media platforms has endorsed that, especially as celebrations on the Island went off, almost without a hitch.

Police hierarchy have acknowledged they’ve seen the clip and also identified the officer but have not overreacted.

“While we support officers having a good time when they on shift, it shouldn’t be at the risk of their own safety and that of road users,” they said.

Here’s what the community said:

• Judy Tiziani: Good for her! I hope her seniors don't come down too hard on her. She was working on a night most people have off and was just enjoying a bit of fun. Community policing at its best.
• Catherine Barrett: Good on her, just engaging with the public, should be more of it than our current touchy-feely-woke Police Force.
• Jasmin Davis: Nice to see police having fun. Very innocent fun.
• Shaz Caia: We were at Cowes NYE and must say the crowd were amazing, there was no trouble that we saw and I too say good on the police officers, that are human, have a personality and can enjoy a bit of fun too, far out fun police!
• Only a few weren’t impressed:
• Kate Loader: Funny as it is, and we all like having fun, this wasn't the smartest decision for a Police Officer.

The one standout issue with Phillip Island’s NYE celebrations were the number of illegal fireworks and boat flares exploding all over the Island at midnight, and for 20 minutes afterwards.