If you’ve ever taken a look at the mug shots uploaded to the Wagga LAC Facebook page, then you can imagine the surprise one XPT passenger got when he looked up the same page on his phone and saw one of the faces sitting across from him.
The passenger was on the way to Sydney on the night train on the July 11 when, around 12.30am, he was browsing the Facebook page of Wagga police. On the page was an appeal for help from the public to find a teenager who was wanted by the virtue of an arrest warrant, and a photo of the teen.
Upon looking up from the page, the passenger saw the teenager sitting with a female friend across the carriage from him.
He snapped a couple of pictures and fired them, and a number of messages, off to police, raising the alarm.
By the time the train arrived at Cootamundra, police from the Wagga local area command were waiting on the platform.
The 18-year-old was arrested and charge with the arrest warrant before being refused bail.
More charges were laid on Tuesday after further inquiries by police.
He will now face Wagga Local Court today (Wednesday) to face two charges of break and enter and trespass.
The actions of the passenger have been praised by the Wagga LAC’s commander, Superintendent Bob Noble.
“This man’s efforts were extraordinary and his quick thinking demonstrates how police and the community are working together on social media sites to interact and solve crimes,” Supt Noble said.
“NSW Police Force has a strong presence on Facebook, with more than 475,000 friends on our main page and thousands more keeping in touch with local policing issues on individual Eyewatch pages.
“The Wagga Wagga LAC has more than 13,500 Facebook friends and it has proven to be a great way for us to connect with the community and for everyone to be involved in keeping Wagga safe.
“Across the state, we are seeing more and more cases solved through information shared on social media and the force is very proud of its online interaction with the community.”
