❓ Mrs. Godfrey asks about local policing plans for Belmont. The Minister responds by outlining the government's commitment to visible, responsive policing, police reform efforts, and proactive policing models being trialled in other areas, with Belmont potentially included in the future.
AnsweredQoN 281Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
LOCAL INITIATIVES
281. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for Police:
My constituents of Belmont have always valued high-profile
policing initiatives.
Ms
M.M. Quirk : Too bad; they're all in Armadale.
Dr
A.D. Buti : Where they should be.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I call you to order for the first time.
Member for Armadale, I call you to order for the first time.
Mrs G.J. GODFREY :
With this in mind, can the minister please update the house on the Liberal–National
government's plans for local policing in my area?
LOCAL INITIATIVES
281. Mrs G.J. GODFREY to the Minister for Police:
My constituents of Belmont have always valued high-profile
policing initiatives.
Ms
M.M. Quirk : Too bad; they're all in Armadale.
Dr
A.D. Buti : Where they should be.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I call you to order for the first time.
Member for Armadale, I call you to order for the first time.
Mrs G.J. GODFREY :
With this in mind, can the minister please update the house on the Liberal–National
government's plans for local policing in my area?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Belmont for her question and also for
her continuing interest in law and order issues in her electorate. Around the
last election the Liberal–National government made various commitments.
Those commitments were based around providing a more visible, responsive and
effective police force. Members in this house may be aware that at present
police are undergoing substantial reform and also a substantial growth program.
The reform process is all designed around freeing up police time and getting
police officers from behind desks and out into the community where their work
counts. It is also about looking at legislative reform for police to free up
the processes that tie police to their desks and making the changes and red
tape improvements to improve a day in the life of a police officer.
I am glad that mention was made of the operation in Armadale.
We have also been working with police on delivering a different and more
effective policing model. Part of that model was Operation Carambola, which has
been talked about much in this place. The results of Operation Carambola are
incredibly impressive. After only five weeks, 540 charges have been laid, 130 arrests
have been effected, 253 summonses have been issued and 53 motor vehicles have
been seized. The police in Armadale are now taking back the streets on behalf
of the community. Operation Carambola has been incredibly effective and we are
looking at working on ways to roll that out into other precincts as those
hotspots become apparent. Part of our strategy is around a more proactive and
targeted policing model. There has been much talk about a back-to-basics
policing model. The feedback I have had from the community is that it wants
more proactive policing and more engagement with police. In response to that,
we are putting together local policing teams. The local policing teams will be
doing beat work policing in local communities. We will be trialling this in two
of our hotspots, being Armadale and Mandurah. I am sure that other members in
this place will be lining up to see this kind of proactive policing response
targeted in their precincts. I have the member for Belmont's electorate
in mind as well.
These local policing teams will look at nuisance offending.
They will go to the skate parks during the day and round up the kids when they
should be at school and try to circumvent this antisocial behaviour that often
escalates into criminal activity. They will be doing the things that it is
difficult for police to do when they are caught in that tasking framework and
going from job to job in response to tasking from the operations centre. This
is all based around police strengthening their ties with the community,
engaging more proactively with local government agencies that are doing other
important work within those communities and ensuring that the police officers
are out there where it counts working with victims of crime, working with small
business owners who are victims of crime and reducing the level of
victimisation in those circumstances, working with the prolific priority
offenders and trying to prevent those particular offenders from reoffending. I
will watch this with interest as it unfolds. Over the past 12 months or so the
police involved in this reform process have been proactively trying to engage
better with the community and be more responsive with the community. At the end
of our eight years in government, we will have expanded our police force by 1 050
police and police auxiliary officers. We want to ensure that those officers are
out there dealing with the community where it counts.
her continuing interest in law and order issues in her electorate. Around the
last election the Liberal–National government made various commitments.
Those commitments were based around providing a more visible, responsive and
effective police force. Members in this house may be aware that at present
police are undergoing substantial reform and also a substantial growth program.
The reform process is all designed around freeing up police time and getting
police officers from behind desks and out into the community where their work
counts. It is also about looking at legislative reform for police to free up
the processes that tie police to their desks and making the changes and red
tape improvements to improve a day in the life of a police officer.
I am glad that mention was made of the operation in Armadale.
We have also been working with police on delivering a different and more
effective policing model. Part of that model was Operation Carambola, which has
been talked about much in this place. The results of Operation Carambola are
incredibly impressive. After only five weeks, 540 charges have been laid, 130 arrests
have been effected, 253 summonses have been issued and 53 motor vehicles have
been seized. The police in Armadale are now taking back the streets on behalf
of the community. Operation Carambola has been incredibly effective and we are
looking at working on ways to roll that out into other precincts as those
hotspots become apparent. Part of our strategy is around a more proactive and
targeted policing model. There has been much talk about a back-to-basics
policing model. The feedback I have had from the community is that it wants
more proactive policing and more engagement with police. In response to that,
we are putting together local policing teams. The local policing teams will be
doing beat work policing in local communities. We will be trialling this in two
of our hotspots, being Armadale and Mandurah. I am sure that other members in
this place will be lining up to see this kind of proactive policing response
targeted in their precincts. I have the member for Belmont's electorate
in mind as well.
These local policing teams will look at nuisance offending.
They will go to the skate parks during the day and round up the kids when they
should be at school and try to circumvent this antisocial behaviour that often
escalates into criminal activity. They will be doing the things that it is
difficult for police to do when they are caught in that tasking framework and
going from job to job in response to tasking from the operations centre. This
is all based around police strengthening their ties with the community,
engaging more proactively with local government agencies that are doing other
important work within those communities and ensuring that the police officers
are out there where it counts working with victims of crime, working with small
business owners who are victims of crime and reducing the level of
victimisation in those circumstances, working with the prolific priority
offenders and trying to prevent those particular offenders from reoffending. I
will watch this with interest as it unfolds. Over the past 12 months or so the
police involved in this reform process have been proactively trying to engage
better with the community and be more responsive with the community. At the end
of our eight years in government, we will have expanded our police force by 1 050
police and police auxiliary officers. We want to ensure that those officers are
out there dealing with the community where it counts.
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