Fire danger prompted police warning on dune party

A POSSIBLE underage beach party in Point Lonsdale has attracted plenty of attention for the wrong reasons, resulting in a police-issued warning for parents.

Acting Senior Sergeant Dean Parrello from Bellarine police said the proposed party was for last Saturday night, on a total fire ban day, where consequences could’ve been devastating.

“I don’t want to be a killjoy, it’s not about stopping kids from having fun but it’s about community safety. We’ve had kids have parties in the dunes and they light fires,” Sgt Parrello said.

“It would’ve been devastating if they had of got in there on Saturday.”

Sgt Parrello said the warning issued through the Eyewatch-Geelong Police Service Area Facebook page resulted in 213 comments and 165 shares and attracted lots of “haters”.

He said comments from various community members calling on the police to “let kids have their fun,” and sarcastic jabs “to arrest them” for being kids, were misguided.

“There were a lot of haters in there, but it got the message out anyway. The parties become big and when you’ve got a large group of kids in one area where they’re drinking, there’s no doubt that there will be disagreements that turn into fights,” he said.

“I don’t want kids to not have fun, it’s just the danger involved when they go down there.

“It’s dark, they’ve been drinking and might decide to go for a swim so there’s a risk of drowning.

“The biggest concern, though, is the risk it poses to the community if they start lighting fires and leave broken glass in the sand.”

Sgt Parrello said a concerned parent tipped off the police who were then able to alert members of the community and parents about the proposed party.

“We encourage parents to contact us, the more information we get from parents the better.

We also want parents to have the chat with their kids.

“Often when they (party goers) leave the dunes, letter boxes are kicked over, there’s a lot of noise and general disruption to the community.

“We want kids to have fun but in a responsible way and manner.”