Videos of school brawls have police concerned

Youths are making videos of fights at local schools, and they are being seen by thousands of people. Police say it is very concerning.

There is a Facebook group that has over 14,000 likes, and features videos of young people doing stupid things -- all from New Brunswick.  Many of the videos are of brawls at schools, and a fair share of the videos on the site claim to come from Miramichi.

There have been 6 fight videos from Miramichi posted on the page since March 27th.

Miramichi Police Force Sgt. Bob Bruce says the force was made aware of the online videos a few months ago and says they are very disturbing.

Watch Videos here:  https://www.facebook.com/Crazy-videos-from-New-Brunswick-585538961594246/?fref=ts

The first video on the page is from Miramichi and has been viewed 12,000 times.  Scroll down to find other videos from Miramichi.

" We recognized some of the youths involved and some of the locations where the fights occurred.  Recognizing some backgrounds as being within schools we did speak to school authorities and we learned that the fights at the school locations occurred last year and that the students involved had been dealt with at the school level."

Miramichi Online reached out to staff at MVHS for a comment but no response was received at the time this article was published.

Bruce says the actions could be illegal, but as of yet the department has not heard from the public on the issue.

" As far as outdoor fights go, it is illegal to cause a disturbance by fighting in public.  Section 175 of the Criminal Code lists this as a summary conviction offence.  In order to be charged with fighting in public, we need someone to witness the fight or we need to have someone  make a complaint about the fight and be willing to write a witness statement.  As yet, we have not received any complaints about any of these fights that have been posted [online]."

The young people in the Miramichi videos appear to be aware their actions are being captured on video. Bruce says technology plays a part in videos reaching so many people so quickly.

" What is new about [these types of incidents] is the availability of cell phone equipped video cameras and social media sites that post videos of these fights, and that  these events have become available to a greater viewing audience."

The fights in the video below appear to be by consent in some cases, and go to far in others.  But even if they are staged, Bruce says it is concerning.

"We are very concerned about these behaviours among our youth.  Someone is going to get seriously hurt.  Fights among our youth is not something new to us.  Fortunately they are not too frequent but several times each year we have responded to and investigated fights at different venues and locations where youth gather," said Bruce.

Bruce said some investigations have resulted in charges of causing a disturbance by fighting in public while others resulted in charges of assault. 

Fighting Videos could have other effects

Recent fight videos from schools in Surrey BC prompted a reaction from community a community psychologist.

"Repeated exposure to the videos has the potential to change how the people involved view themselves," said Surrey Clinical psychologist Joti Samra according to CTV news.

“It starts to have a real, tangible impact on how we behave and think about ourselves moving forward,” Samra said.

“For teenagers, who are developmentally at a level of emotional maturity that’s less than adults, it can be highly damaging in terms of impact on sense of self, self-confidence, self-image.”

The fighters in the video appear to be influenced by fighting techniques seen in MMA.  They probably never expect their actions to become fatal, but just two weeks ago a fight at a high school in Delaware turned deadly when a 16 year old girl died after a fight in a bathroom.  Police said in a statement that officers were called to the high school around 8:20 a.m.  for a student with head and stomach pain, and within minutes, the call became a CPR in progress.  The girl was airlifted to hospital where she died.

In March at a high school in Kentucky, students were suspended from school for posting videos of a school fight online:  http://www.wlwt.com/news/scott-hs-student-suspended-after-posting-school-fight-video-online/38641578