❓ Mr. Katsambanis's question seeks data on WA Police search warrant applications and executions over the past four years. The response provides partial data on executions but cites data limitations regarding applications due to varied recording methods.
AnsweredQoN 6443Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to WA Police search warrants and ask: (a) for each of the past four years how many search warrants did WA Police apply for; (b) for each of the past four years how many search warrants were executed by WA Police; (c) for each of the past four years how many search warrants were executed on more than one occasion; and (d) for each of the past four years how many search warrants were not executed at all?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 November 2020
Responded by
Minister for Police; Road Safety
Response time
15 days
The Western Australia Police Force advise:
(a) Applications for search warrants are in both electronic and paper formats. As a result of the variety in application methods used, the total number of search warrants applied for by the WA Police Force cannot be determined without significant manual effort.
(b) In 2017, 5114; in 2018, 5225; in 2019, 5176; and in 2020 to 8 October, 4037.
(c) In 2017, seven; in 2018, one; in 2019, four, and in 2020 to 8 October, zero.
(d) Please refer to (a).
Notes:
1. Statistics are provisional and subject to revision.
2. Statistics are a count of incidents with an incident sub-type of ‘Execution of Search Warrant’ which either commenced or concluded between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019, as recorded in the WA Police Force Incident Management System.
3. It is the practice of the WA Police Force to create an incident in the Incident Management System for each search warrant executed. Where a search warrant has been re-executed, a new incident is created. Executed search warrants are captured against the incident, rather than against the warrant. As a result, the figures provided in part (b) reflect the number of executions of search warrants, rather than the number of search warrants executed.
5. Search warrants executed on more than one occasion were identified through a key word search of the free text narrative of executed search warrant incidents in the Incident Management System for the term “re-execut” and similar terms with different punctuation. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures due to the limitations of free text searches and the reliance on the recording officer narratives including the key words searched for. Incidents where the searched term wasn’t entered into the incident narrative or a significant misspelling will result in the search warrant re-execution not being counted.
(a) Applications for search warrants are in both electronic and paper formats. As a result of the variety in application methods used, the total number of search warrants applied for by the WA Police Force cannot be determined without significant manual effort.
(b) In 2017, 5114; in 2018, 5225; in 2019, 5176; and in 2020 to 8 October, 4037.
(c) In 2017, seven; in 2018, one; in 2019, four, and in 2020 to 8 October, zero.
(d) Please refer to (a).
Notes:
1. Statistics are provisional and subject to revision.
2. Statistics are a count of incidents with an incident sub-type of ‘Execution of Search Warrant’ which either commenced or concluded between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019, as recorded in the WA Police Force Incident Management System.
3. It is the practice of the WA Police Force to create an incident in the Incident Management System for each search warrant executed. Where a search warrant has been re-executed, a new incident is created. Executed search warrants are captured against the incident, rather than against the warrant. As a result, the figures provided in part (b) reflect the number of executions of search warrants, rather than the number of search warrants executed.
5. Search warrants executed on more than one occasion were identified through a key word search of the free text narrative of executed search warrant incidents in the Incident Management System for the term “re-execut” and similar terms with different punctuation. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures due to the limitations of free text searches and the reliance on the recording officer narratives including the key words searched for. Incidents where the searched term wasn’t entered into the incident narrative or a significant misspelling will result in the search warrant re-execution not being counted.
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