WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding self-harm and attempted suicide incidents of children and young people in police lock-ups during 2017-18 and 2018-19. The data shows a significant increase in self-harm incidents.

AnsweredQoN 2342Legislative Council
Asked
6 August 2019
Portfolio
Police

QuestionView source ↗

I
refer to children and young people held in police lock-ups, and I ask: (a) how
many incidents of self-harm of children and young people held in police lock-ups
were there during: (i) 2017-18; and (ii) 2018-19; and (b) how
many incidents of attempted suicide of children and young people held in police
lock-ups were there during: (i) 2017-18; and (ii) 2018-19?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
3 September 2019
Responded by
Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Police
Response time
9 days
The Western Australian Police Force advise:
(a) The number of incidents of self-harm of children and young people held in police lock-ups:
(i) 35
(ii)  66
(b) The Western Australia Police Force’s Custodial Management System does not distinguish between incidents of self-harm and an incident of attempted suicide.
NOTES: Figures are subject to revision. Self-harm incidents include those which are recorded as "attempted", "actual" or "threatened". A self-harm incident is determined based on an event either being recorded as a "detainee self-harm" event or being recorded as an "other" event and containing terms in the incident narrative which indicate self-harm behaviour. Self-harm incident counts are based on the number of events and means that where multiple incidents have occurred during a single custodial episode, each incident is counted.

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