Support for the beating of a schoolboy accused of “disrupting the community” is just a symptom of the Island’s underlying social problems.So said Family Centre director Martha Dismont after comments praising David Fox’s actions were posted on The Royal Gazette’s website, www.royalgazette.com.The 46-year-old St David’s resident last week told Magistrates’ Court that he beat the middle school student with a cricket bat on June 2 because he was a “gang banger”.The teenager was playing near the Gulf Stream housing facility in St David’s when he was attacked.Many of our readers congratulated Fox on our online forum following the initial report.Ms Dismont said she found the posts of approval for the beating “very disturbing”.“The apparent frustration of the individual who attacked an alleged offender is understandable — but not excusable,” she said.“It has never served a community for individuals, other than law enforcement, to take law enforcement into their own hands.”Blogs and comments condoning the attack could be motivated simply by frustration over offending behaviour, she said.“The best solution to the offending behaviours is to address them appropriately by prioritising efforts, strategies, and funding to address high-risk situations in our community, and to utilise the programmes already in place to address offending behaviours.“For instance, if a Neighbourhood Watch was set up in the area, community residents would have a means to observe day-to-day behaviours and call upon the proper authorities to support the community’s desire to rid itself of these maladaptive behaviours by teens or adults. A Neighbourhood Watch programme could also have attached to it a link to social workers that could intervene with a family that needs support.”Ms Dismont called on the community to quit wasting energy on “this more costly behaviour”.“Put it in the space that is proven to give us true resolution to our community challenges,” she said. “This is a very challenging time for this community. Let us not waste the opportunity to use sound wisdom and ultimately fix what seems broken. We must do this for future generations.”Reaction to the story on The Royal Gazette website was fiercely divided. Many decried the attack with a weapon on a schoolboy, others praised Fox for standing up for the community.Bermudian1987 wrote: “If that kid is in fact guilty of causing gang-related issues, then give the man who beat him a medal. About time the community strikes back! We are sick of this gang nonsense!”Sonya Fuller said: “The only wrong Mr Fox did was beating him around witnesses. The wannabe thug probably needs a couple more licks, doing so might just keep him from being another Westgate inmate. What Mr Fox [did] won't be nearly as bad as what might happen if he continues gang banging.”Black Bear wrote: “If this child is going around threatening people and the police won’t intervene, I’d find it commendable for an ordinary citizen to reprimand the child, but not to publicly assault them with a weapon. That doesn’t help at all.”Portia D described Fox’s behaviour as reprehensible.“No arm of the law has designated him an ‘enforcer’. Yes, we do need to keep gangs out of our schools and deal strongly with those who break the law — but this child did not break any law.“Neither is beating any youth senseless in the head going to deter them from wanting to join a gang — it will push them toward it more.”Rosie wrote: “Just as it’s not right for gang members (in this case ALLEGED) to go around inflicting harm on others, it’s not right for ‘law abiding’ members of the public to go around inflicting harm on others that they ASSUME are involved in disruptive activities. That’s why we have the Police (with a station in St David’s I might add) and Crime Stoppers.”