Skip to main content
Home
  • The Legislative Assembly meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Assembly sit 16/04/2024
  • The Legislative Council meets on 16/04/2024 (01:00 PM)
    Council sit 16/04/2024
  • The Public Administration meets on 08/04/2024 (10:00 AM)
    Committee meet 08/04/2024

Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 60 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 22 February 2022 by Ms D.G. D’Anna

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

POLICE — OPERATION REGIONAL SHIELD — KIMBERLEY

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Kimberley, I see you and assume you are seeking the call. The member for Kimberley has the call.

60. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Police:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to address the challenges in the regions. Can the minister update the house on the outcomes of Operation Regional Shield and outline how this operation is targeting antisocial criminal offending and broader challenges in the Kimberley?

Mr P. PAPALIA replied:

Member, you are looking good on the big screen! I thank the member for the question. I also thank her for the incredible leadership that she demonstrates in the Kimberley. As members know, we travelled there last week and I was witness to the respect and esteem with which the member is viewed right across communities in several towns, but I know it is right across the Kimberley. It is incredibly impressive to see such a powerful voice for the Kimberley, who is normally resident here in the chamber, but up there today.

The Premier acknowledged in his address to Parliament that some of the challenges we are confronting in the Kimberley and the Pilbara are multi-generational in nature. They have been generated over decades, if not more, of disadvantage and impoverishment. The consequences are challenges that we confront that will not be solved with one simple solution, that will not be done in a short period, but will require a significant effort by all tiers of government, local communities, non-government organisations and individuals right across the regions to assist in rectifying the challenges that people confront in their daily lives, particularly juvenile offending.

We went to the Kimberley to announce part of the response of government that the Premier referred to in his speech—that is, the police response, Operation Regional Shield, which is a capability. It is effectively a model that can be applied anywhere in the regions, and it constitutes a range of capabilities and capacity that can be taken and adapted, and sent to a particular region at any time, to confront and deal with an acute challenge and assist local authorities in overcoming that challenge and moving forward. That is what we did in Broome last Wednesday with Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch and the member for Kimberley. We told the people about the comprehensive commitment by the Western Australia Police Force to tackle juvenile crime, particularly in the subdistrict of Broome at the moment, but right across the Kimberley in due course. Some of the resources that are being deployed include the Police Air Wing, including fixed-wing and remotely piloted aircraft systems—what we all call drones—and the pilots necessary to operate them; the regional operations group; additional ROG officers with two specialist transport vehicles; a regional investigation unit, including specialist investigators and technology specialists from our technology crime unit, which is supported by cutting-edge technology; our forensic division, which has deployed people up there with equipment that enables forensics to be employed in the field in the Kimberley; as well as a general purpose dog and handler from the canine unit. There are many other specialist capabilities that we will not reveal, but we will ensure that there is an enhanced response to the crime challenges that confront the community out there.

In response to what has happened, I can report that there has been an immediate reduction in crime across Broome. In the week that the operation has been underway, we have seen more than a 63 per cent reduction in some of the crimes. For example, for selected offences against property, which are the crimes that are most concerning, last week there were five burglaries and in the week before there were some 24 burglaries in Broome. There have been no vehicle thefts since the morning of 14 February, and, in the time shortly prior to that, there were some four in that week. As a result of the outstanding work by the Western Australia Police Force, there have been 18 arrests resulting in 36 charges and six summonses.

There is another element to this. Police are engaging with young people who are at risk. If they find children out in the streets at night who might be at risk, or in the daytime who should be in school but are not, they are taking duty of care for them and ensuring that they are either returned to a safe place or returned safely to the police station. I can tell members that 83 children were escorted by police in this fashion.

It is an incredible response by police. It is having immediate returns for the community and increasing the safety of everybody, including the young people involved. This is only one part of the Premier's announced response. As indicated in his speech to Parliament, there will be a four-pronged response. It will include policing, which will be ongoing. Regional Shield will be deployed wherever it is required in the state on an ongoing basis. There is also a commitment to roll out the Target 120 program across the Kimberley and the Pilbara. That will mean the benefits of that program will be delivered to towns other than Kununurra, where it is currently operating. There is also a commitment to an on-country sentencing option as an alternative to incarcerating children in Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Perth. Finally, a fund will also be created to enable communities to come forward with their own proposals to address community safety right across the Kimberley and apply for funding to implement community driven responses.

It is a wonderful thing to see the member for Kimberley in action. I am sorry she is not here, but I am glad that she is up there, representing her community right on the ground and making sure that we all know what is going on in the Kimberley.