❓ Mrs. Godfrey asks about new initiatives to protect WA police officers. The Minister for Police responds by highlighting the government's record, particularly the body-worn camera trial and mandatory sentencing for assaulting officers.
AnsweredQoN 280Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WA POLICE — BODY-WORN CAMERAS
280. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for
Police:
Can the minister please advise the
house on any new —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park, I call you to order for the first time.
Start again, please.
Mrs
G.J. GODFREY : Thank you. My question is to the Minister for Police —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you to order for the first time.
Mrs
G.J. GODFREY : Thank you. My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the
minister please advise the house on any new initiatives that will help protect
our police officers?
280. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for
Police:
Can the minister please advise the
house on any new —
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park, I call you to order for the first time.
Start again, please.
Mrs
G.J. GODFREY : Thank you. My question is to the Minister for Police —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you to order for the first time.
Mrs
G.J. GODFREY : Thank you. My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the
minister please advise the house on any new initiatives that will help protect
our police officers?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Belmont for
her question and her continued interest in this government's
initiatives to protect our police officers.
Over the seven or so years that we
have been in government, we have gained a very strong reputation for putting
initiatives in place to protect our police officers. I was really pleased to be
in Northbridge recently with the member for Perth and Deputy Commissioner Steve
Brown to announce a trial of body-worn video cameras that will commence in
Perth —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you to order for the second time.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : The body-worn camera trial—as I was saying before I was
so rudely interrupted—will be conducted in Perth and Bunbury. This is
the first trial of this sort of initiative in Western Australia. Approximately
300 cameras will be deployed to frontline officers in the Perth local policing
and response teams. In addition, our regional operations group officers will be
wearing body-worn cameras as part of a trial, and officers at Bunbury Police
Station will, too, member for Bunbury. I am sure that the member for Bunbury's
local constituency will welcome this initiative.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : Members opposite cannot bear to hear how well this government
looks after police officers, can they? They just have to interject. We on this
side of the house know our police officers do an exceptional job in very
challenging circumstances. We are hopeful—we will be assessing it—that
the wearing of body-worn video cameras as part of this trial will result in
more early guilty pleas as those offenders intervened on by police will see
themselves on video and obviously see how they behaved. It may lead to an early
guilty plea, which is a better result for victims of crime because they get
some swift justice. This will add to our tremendous record as a government. We
are the government that introduced mandatory minimum terms for people who
assault police officers. We are the government that introduced the mandatory
taking of blood from people who bit or spat at our police officers. Our
officers in Western Australia know that the Liberal–National government
supports them against people who assault them. We make sure those people go to
jail, unlike the Labor opposition. It endorses candidates who assault police
officers, and then it goes to the media —
Several members interjected.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : The Leader of the Opposition says, ''He's a really
decent bloke.'' People who assault police officers in Western Australia
are not decent blokes; they go to jail under this government.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Midland, it is finished.
her question and her continued interest in this government's
initiatives to protect our police officers.
Over the seven or so years that we
have been in government, we have gained a very strong reputation for putting
initiatives in place to protect our police officers. I was really pleased to be
in Northbridge recently with the member for Perth and Deputy Commissioner Steve
Brown to announce a trial of body-worn video cameras that will commence in
Perth —
Mr
P.B. Watson interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Albany, I call you to order for the second time.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : The body-worn camera trial—as I was saying before I was
so rudely interrupted—will be conducted in Perth and Bunbury. This is
the first trial of this sort of initiative in Western Australia. Approximately
300 cameras will be deployed to frontline officers in the Perth local policing
and response teams. In addition, our regional operations group officers will be
wearing body-worn cameras as part of a trial, and officers at Bunbury Police
Station will, too, member for Bunbury. I am sure that the member for Bunbury's
local constituency will welcome this initiative.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : Members opposite cannot bear to hear how well this government
looks after police officers, can they? They just have to interject. We on this
side of the house know our police officers do an exceptional job in very
challenging circumstances. We are hopeful—we will be assessing it—that
the wearing of body-worn video cameras as part of this trial will result in
more early guilty pleas as those offenders intervened on by police will see
themselves on video and obviously see how they behaved. It may lead to an early
guilty plea, which is a better result for victims of crime because they get
some swift justice. This will add to our tremendous record as a government. We
are the government that introduced mandatory minimum terms for people who
assault police officers. We are the government that introduced the mandatory
taking of blood from people who bit or spat at our police officers. Our
officers in Western Australia know that the Liberal–National government
supports them against people who assault them. We make sure those people go to
jail, unlike the Labor opposition. It endorses candidates who assault police
officers, and then it goes to the media —
Several members interjected.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : The Leader of the Opposition says, ''He's a really
decent bloke.'' People who assault police officers in Western Australia
are not decent blokes; they go to jail under this government.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Midland, it is finished.
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