Under what circumstances, and with how much evidence, should you report someone for possibly breaking coronavirus restrictions?
That debate has been raging in a Facebook community group for the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond, and reached its peak this week when a restaurant owner posted a photo of an order for nine pizzas.
“Somebody is having a party I assume. Definitely a shame. Put yourself in my shoes, what would you do?” Salvatore Micali asked.
The responses reveal a community split between wanting to trust each other and seeing COVID enemies in their midst as the number of cases rises.
A suburb of sleuths
This wasn’t Richmond’s first foray into amateur investigation under lockdown 2.0.
It began last weekend, after Victorian authorities changed their messaging on masks and urged people to wear them if they couldn’t social distance.
A grainy photo of people in a park was posted to the community group by an onlooker who lashed them for not wearing masks.
There was swift, and mostly universal, condemnation among the community members. Not of the people in the park, but of the photographer.
Masks weren’t mandatory, they said. You were only being told to wear them in confined areas. And please don’t take unsolicited photos of your neighbours.
Fast forward a few days and things went up a notch, this time on another Richmond Facebook page.
A local was going for a walk when they spotted what looked like a personal trainer working with four people.
Victoria’s restrictions stipulate an instructor can only train two people at a time.
Again, the encounter made its way to Richmond’s social media community for a ruling.