❓ The Minister for Police updates the house on the government's efforts to equip WA police officers with proper protective equipment, criticising the previous government's inaction and outlining current initiatives like stab-proof vests.
AnsweredQoN 130Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
130. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the decisive action taken
by the McGowan Labor government to improve community safety and deliver our
commitment to expand the opening hours of the Belmont Police Station. Can the
minister update the house on how this government is ensuring that Western Australian
police officers have the proper equipment they need to serve the community?
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
130. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the decisive action taken
by the McGowan Labor government to improve community safety and deliver our
commitment to expand the opening hours of the Belmont Police Station. Can the
minister update the house on how this government is ensuring that Western Australian
police officers have the proper equipment they need to serve the community?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Belmont for
her question and her keen interest in supporting the community safety of her
electorate. She campaigned to have the hours of Belmont Police Station
expanded. I was delighted that within a few months of obtaining government, we
were able to expand the opening hours so that Belmont Police Station is open
until seven at night. That is something that her community had wanted for
years, but the former government had denied.
I also commend the member for her
support of our police officers having the protective equipment that they need
to do the job. Every day we see in the media the difficult and dangerous jobs
that police officers are turning up to with situations occurring in the city,
suburbs, and regional centres on a daily basis.
I have always been very keen to
ensure that police officers have the protective equipment they need to do the
job. That is why the Gallop government rolled out a universal firearm so that
all police officers would have a Glock firearm. It was for clear safety
reasons. The former government had a 20-year plan of a mix of Glocks and Smith and
Wesson firearms as they gradually got off the Smith and Wessons and onto the
Glocks. We had the stupid situation of officers going to a unit that used
Glocks then two years later being sent to a location or unit where they would
have to go back to the old Smith and Wesson firearm and be retrained. We also
rolled out tasers and pepper spray to support our police officers and make sure
that they are able to defend themselves while they are protecting and defending
the community. Unfortunately, the last Liberal government did not do that.
Police
around Australia have gradually been issued with stab-proof vests, but in Western
Australia the project was put on the backburner by the former government.
Indeed, its members talked the talk but they never walked the walk. An article
by Grant Taylor highlighted the issue in June 2015. It said that the government
was going to have a trial and, hopefully, roll out the vests by the end of the
year. The government said it would trial 50 vests—in fact, it trialled
42 vests—but it did not put anything further in place. There was no
real plan to roll out any vests. The government did not choose a vest and had
no needs analysis. There was no preferred or suitable product. It did not make
basic decisions about whether they would be personal-issue vests or a station
would have a limited number of vests and officers would have to share them.
This is one of the many unfunded problems that the former government left
sitting. It spent big and blew the state budget, but left these necessary
projects that we have had to start from scratch. The former government had
plenty of time. This need was highlighted in 2015. Did the government do
anything in 2015? No. Did it do anything in 2016? No. Did the government go to
the election with a midyear review that had money in the budget? No. There was
nothing in the budget and no proper plan.
The member for Belmont asked what we
are doing and I am more than happy to inform her. In the middle of 2017, I asked
Deputy Commissioner Dreibergs to convene a meeting with the police union to
start scoping the project and working out what was required in order to get the
union on board to get its input on what it believed its officers needed to be
able to protect themselves. In October 2017, we put out an invitation to
register interest, which I am told is called an ITRI. That was released through
Tenders WA. That was done to find a suitable body armour configuration for
review and so that the technical requirements of a tender could be drafted. A
number of suitable suppliers replied to that ITRI process and they provided
sample products—products that the union and the police force have been
able to look at. In February 2018, the scope of that project was finalised and
it was progressed towards procurement. The Commissioner of Police has
recommended personal issue protective vests. That is something on which I certainly
support him, for a variety of reasons that I will not go into now. Sharing
vests is not appropriate given the kinds of vests that police officers want and
need. A procurement plan was then submitted to and approved by the State Tender
Review Committee. That was published in September 2018. That tender process
closed in November last year. Those tenders are now in the process of being
evaluated. I am now very confident that we
will be able to progress towards a rollout of protective vests for our Western Australia
Police Force . That is another shining example of the neglect of WA
police by the member for Scarborough and the former government. We had to step
up and put a proper project in place because although they talked about support
for police, they did not give them any.
her question and her keen interest in supporting the community safety of her
electorate. She campaigned to have the hours of Belmont Police Station
expanded. I was delighted that within a few months of obtaining government, we
were able to expand the opening hours so that Belmont Police Station is open
until seven at night. That is something that her community had wanted for
years, but the former government had denied.
I also commend the member for her
support of our police officers having the protective equipment that they need
to do the job. Every day we see in the media the difficult and dangerous jobs
that police officers are turning up to with situations occurring in the city,
suburbs, and regional centres on a daily basis.
I have always been very keen to
ensure that police officers have the protective equipment they need to do the
job. That is why the Gallop government rolled out a universal firearm so that
all police officers would have a Glock firearm. It was for clear safety
reasons. The former government had a 20-year plan of a mix of Glocks and Smith and
Wesson firearms as they gradually got off the Smith and Wessons and onto the
Glocks. We had the stupid situation of officers going to a unit that used
Glocks then two years later being sent to a location or unit where they would
have to go back to the old Smith and Wesson firearm and be retrained. We also
rolled out tasers and pepper spray to support our police officers and make sure
that they are able to defend themselves while they are protecting and defending
the community. Unfortunately, the last Liberal government did not do that.
Police
around Australia have gradually been issued with stab-proof vests, but in Western
Australia the project was put on the backburner by the former government.
Indeed, its members talked the talk but they never walked the walk. An article
by Grant Taylor highlighted the issue in June 2015. It said that the government
was going to have a trial and, hopefully, roll out the vests by the end of the
year. The government said it would trial 50 vests—in fact, it trialled
42 vests—but it did not put anything further in place. There was no
real plan to roll out any vests. The government did not choose a vest and had
no needs analysis. There was no preferred or suitable product. It did not make
basic decisions about whether they would be personal-issue vests or a station
would have a limited number of vests and officers would have to share them.
This is one of the many unfunded problems that the former government left
sitting. It spent big and blew the state budget, but left these necessary
projects that we have had to start from scratch. The former government had
plenty of time. This need was highlighted in 2015. Did the government do
anything in 2015? No. Did it do anything in 2016? No. Did the government go to
the election with a midyear review that had money in the budget? No. There was
nothing in the budget and no proper plan.
The member for Belmont asked what we
are doing and I am more than happy to inform her. In the middle of 2017, I asked
Deputy Commissioner Dreibergs to convene a meeting with the police union to
start scoping the project and working out what was required in order to get the
union on board to get its input on what it believed its officers needed to be
able to protect themselves. In October 2017, we put out an invitation to
register interest, which I am told is called an ITRI. That was released through
Tenders WA. That was done to find a suitable body armour configuration for
review and so that the technical requirements of a tender could be drafted. A
number of suitable suppliers replied to that ITRI process and they provided
sample products—products that the union and the police force have been
able to look at. In February 2018, the scope of that project was finalised and
it was progressed towards procurement. The Commissioner of Police has
recommended personal issue protective vests. That is something on which I certainly
support him, for a variety of reasons that I will not go into now. Sharing
vests is not appropriate given the kinds of vests that police officers want and
need. A procurement plan was then submitted to and approved by the State Tender
Review Committee. That was published in September 2018. That tender process
closed in November last year. Those tenders are now in the process of being
evaluated. I am now very confident that we
will be able to progress towards a rollout of protective vests for our Western Australia
Police Force . That is another shining example of the neglect of WA
police by the member for Scarborough and the former government. We had to step
up and put a proper project in place because although they talked about support
for police, they did not give them any.
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