POLICE — BODY-WORN CAMERAS — LIVE
STREAMING
385. Mr H.T. JONES to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to community safety and its efforts to ensure
that our police officers have the resources that they need to keep Western Australians
safe.
(1) Can the minister outline to the house what the
live streaming of vision from body-worn cameras will mean for Western Australia
Police Force officers and the important job that they do?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house what other equipment the McGowan Labor government has
funded to assist police in keeping our community safe?
Mr P.
PAPALIA replied:
I thank the member for his question
and his universally acknowledged support of the Western Australia Police Force
and its efforts to combat crime in the state.
(1)–(2) One
of the standout achievements of the Western Australia Police Force under the
McGowan government and with the collaboration, support and resourcing from the
McGowan government has been the adoption of
cutting-edge technology and its application to policing to get better results
and to make it safer for police officers. The live streaming from
body-worn cameras is an example of that, but I will quickly reflect on the
quite exceptional and additional capabilities that we have delivered to the
police force, particularly in the last term of office under the then Minister
for Police and now Speaker.
Most recently, we announced funding
for the replacement of the tactical response group's BearCats. We also
announced the funding of two Airbus H145 helicopters—Google them; they
are fantastic. They will be brilliant and they will be arriving soon. We have
new drones. Every police district in the state has two drones and at least four
operators or pilots. Body armour has been delivered to every single police
officer. They have a couple of sets each that are tailored to fit them. The
OneForce mobile phone app initiative sounds basic, but it is quite exceptional
because it gives every single police officer access to intelligence, databases
and all manner of apps that were never available to frontline police officers
in the past and have changed the way that we police the state. Automatic
numberplate recognition technology has also been rolled out. Hundreds of units have been delivered across the state. That
has massively increased the network and provides support and direct
intelligence to our State Operations Command Centre. That centre was another initiative created only three years ago
under the direction of current Commissioner Dawson. A lot of drive
behind the integration of new technology has been led by Designate Commissioner
Col Blanch, and there is more to come, such as the live streaming of body-worn
cameras.
Every
operational police officer now employs a body-worn camera. In Perth district,
some 351 officers are now live streaming directly to the State
Operations Command Centre. The officer can choose to activate their camera when
they encounter members of the public, and, I have to say, they are doing it for
about 80 per cent of the encounters. That
then sends a live stream direct to the State Operations Command Centre.
The command can get a better appreciation of the challenge that confronts
officers on the ground or in developing situations. One can imagine that when
there are big crowds, the command centre can get a full picture of what is
happening and direct resources, assets and support to police, as necessary, to
ensure their safety and the safety of the community.
This is just another step. There is
more to come. It is a constant effort to fully integrate new technologies and
to ensure that police officers are kept safe and are able to deliver better
policing. This is a result of the huge resourcing of our police force and the
McGowan government's 100 per cent support of our police officers.