❓ The Minister for Police details the McGowan government's commitment to supporting frontline officers by providing updated equipment like Glocks, tasers, stab-proof vests, and body cameras, contrasting it with the previous Liberal government's alleged inaction.
AnsweredQoN 748Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE — FRONTLINE OFFICER SUPPORT
748. MR S.J. PRICE to the Minister for Police:
Can the minister update
the house on how the McGowan government is supporting and equipping our
frontline officers?
748. MR S.J. PRICE to the Minister for Police:
Can the minister update
the house on how the McGowan government is supporting and equipping our
frontline officers?
AnswerView source ↗
Thank you, member for Forrestfield, and thank you for your
ongoing and continuing support of the police officers of this state. Only Labor
governments truly support and equip our frontline officers. We have seen this
time and again. When we came to government
in 2001, the police were operating with a mishmash of guns. After eight years in government, the previous Liberal government would not even equip our police
force with one standardised weapon. Police still had the old Smith and Wesson
revolvers, while every other policing jurisdiction was moving on to the Glock.
The previous government was buying them at a rate of about 500 year, and we
worked out that would probably equip the whole force in another 10 years. We
moved straight in, and equipped all the police officers. Members might think it
is a simple thing, but we cannot have a mishmash of weapons. Officers were
going into certain squads and being equipped and getting the training for the
new Glock. Then they would be sent bush and were told, ''Sorry; you're
going to have to be retrained again in the old Smith and Wesson.'' That
is the history of how the Liberal Party has treated police officers in this
state. Not only did we equip every police officer with the standardised,
state-of-the-art gun, we also equipped them with tasers. Tasers are a nonlethal
force option right across the force. Police officers to this day still remember
that the Labor government did that.
We are doing it again. Three years before the last election,
police were asking for protection with stab-proof vests. Police officers were
asking for the rollout of body cameras. Did the previous government put one
cent in the budget for them? Did it roll out
the body cameras? Had the previous government even chosen a vest or what model
of camera would be supplied and how it would integrate into any system?
No, it did not—not a single dollar; not a single commitment. Having
been in office for eight and a half years, did the Leader of the Opposition say
to Colin Barnett that they needed to go to the election with a commitment and
some money on budget to protect our police officers by giving them vests and
body cameras? Every other state in Australia was making that commitment. Other
states rolled out body cameras and vests well ahead of what occurred in Western
Australia, thanks to no-one other than the Leader of the Opposition and the
former Liberal government. Their history was of denying frontline officers the protections that they need. The history of the
Labor Party in this state is of providing police with those resources.
Member for Forrestfield, we are committed to and we are
rolling out 4 200 body cameras. Every officer in the Perth police district has
that additional protection—in Northbridge, in the city, in Wembley and
right across the district. They have also been rolled out in the Pilbara. Over
600 have been rolled out at this stage, and in the coming months there will be
4 200 rolled out. Hopefully it will mean that, knowing that they are being
recorded, some people might think twice about assaulting a police officer and
might think twice about their behaviour. This is tamper-proof equipment. The
imagery is on a constant loop of recording, so whenever it is pressed, the
previous 30 seconds goes up into the cloud along with that immediate recording.
It goes to a secure site based in Canberra. There
is no tampering with the evidence. This will also save a lot of police and
court time, because it will capture offenders and offences on camera.
Already, since we have started the implementation of the rollout, some 20 000
videos and photos have been recorded. That information is available to be
presented in court. I have generally found that when an offender is presented
with clear photographic evidence of them committing an offence or doing
something wrong, they are vastly more likely to plead guilty. I am hopeful,
Attorney General, that this will mean some quicker and earlier guilty pleas,
and save the time of not only police officers but also court officers. Most
importantly, this affords a greater level of protection for our police
officers, and it is also good for the community. We have had instances where
people have put through the media and publicly little clips of an incident of
their interaction with police, and police often say that that is not the whole
picture; they do not have what happened before. We will have the whole lot
here, quite objectively. It is another example of this Labor government
supporting our frontline officers with the resources they need to do their job.
ongoing and continuing support of the police officers of this state. Only Labor
governments truly support and equip our frontline officers. We have seen this
time and again. When we came to government
in 2001, the police were operating with a mishmash of guns. After eight years in government, the previous Liberal government would not even equip our police
force with one standardised weapon. Police still had the old Smith and Wesson
revolvers, while every other policing jurisdiction was moving on to the Glock.
The previous government was buying them at a rate of about 500 year, and we
worked out that would probably equip the whole force in another 10 years. We
moved straight in, and equipped all the police officers. Members might think it
is a simple thing, but we cannot have a mishmash of weapons. Officers were
going into certain squads and being equipped and getting the training for the
new Glock. Then they would be sent bush and were told, ''Sorry; you're
going to have to be retrained again in the old Smith and Wesson.'' That
is the history of how the Liberal Party has treated police officers in this
state. Not only did we equip every police officer with the standardised,
state-of-the-art gun, we also equipped them with tasers. Tasers are a nonlethal
force option right across the force. Police officers to this day still remember
that the Labor government did that.
We are doing it again. Three years before the last election,
police were asking for protection with stab-proof vests. Police officers were
asking for the rollout of body cameras. Did the previous government put one
cent in the budget for them? Did it roll out
the body cameras? Had the previous government even chosen a vest or what model
of camera would be supplied and how it would integrate into any system?
No, it did not—not a single dollar; not a single commitment. Having
been in office for eight and a half years, did the Leader of the Opposition say
to Colin Barnett that they needed to go to the election with a commitment and
some money on budget to protect our police officers by giving them vests and
body cameras? Every other state in Australia was making that commitment. Other
states rolled out body cameras and vests well ahead of what occurred in Western
Australia, thanks to no-one other than the Leader of the Opposition and the
former Liberal government. Their history was of denying frontline officers the protections that they need. The history of the
Labor Party in this state is of providing police with those resources.
Member for Forrestfield, we are committed to and we are
rolling out 4 200 body cameras. Every officer in the Perth police district has
that additional protection—in Northbridge, in the city, in Wembley and
right across the district. They have also been rolled out in the Pilbara. Over
600 have been rolled out at this stage, and in the coming months there will be
4 200 rolled out. Hopefully it will mean that, knowing that they are being
recorded, some people might think twice about assaulting a police officer and
might think twice about their behaviour. This is tamper-proof equipment. The
imagery is on a constant loop of recording, so whenever it is pressed, the
previous 30 seconds goes up into the cloud along with that immediate recording.
It goes to a secure site based in Canberra. There
is no tampering with the evidence. This will also save a lot of police and
court time, because it will capture offenders and offences on camera.
Already, since we have started the implementation of the rollout, some 20 000
videos and photos have been recorded. That information is available to be
presented in court. I have generally found that when an offender is presented
with clear photographic evidence of them committing an offence or doing
something wrong, they are vastly more likely to plead guilty. I am hopeful,
Attorney General, that this will mean some quicker and earlier guilty pleas,
and save the time of not only police officers but also court officers. Most
importantly, this affords a greater level of protection for our police
officers, and it is also good for the community. We have had instances where
people have put through the media and publicly little clips of an incident of
their interaction with police, and police often say that that is not the whole
picture; they do not have what happened before. We will have the whole lot
here, quite objectively. It is another example of this Labor government
supporting our frontline officers with the resources they need to do their job.
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