❓ Mrs Roberts questions the Minister for Police about sanction rates for home burglaries and crimes against the person in the metropolitan area. The Minister provides data and explains changes in calculation methods and legislation affecting sanction rates.
AnsweredQoN 175Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
SANCTION RATES
175. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the
Minister for Police:
The Minister for Police said yesterday that she did not have
to hand the figures on police sanction rates. Therefore, I ask whether she yet
has them to hand and whether she can answer the following —
(1) Will the
minister now admit that the sanction rate for home burglaries in the
metropolitan area is currently running at just 8.4 per cent?
(2) What is
the current sanction rate for crimes against the person—that is, all
crimes against the person in the metro area—and how does that compare
with the rate in 2008–09?
SANCTION RATES
175. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the
Minister for Police:
The Minister for Police said yesterday that she did not have
to hand the figures on police sanction rates. Therefore, I ask whether she yet
has them to hand and whether she can answer the following —
(1) Will the
minister now admit that the sanction rate for home burglaries in the
metropolitan area is currently running at just 8.4 per cent?
(2) What is
the current sanction rate for crimes against the person—that is, all
crimes against the person in the metro area—and how does that compare
with the rate in 2008–09?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) As
incredible as this might seem, I have not memorised the entire graph of the
sanction rates over the past five years. However, I can say that the sanction
rate for home burglary for the 2013 financial year was at 10.3 per cent. In
2010–11, police changed the way they calculated the sanction rate. For
members in the house who may not be aware, the sanction rate is the number of
verified offences for which an investigation outcome has been recorded of an
offender being apprehended or processed. That is for things such as an arrest,
a summons, a caution or a referral to a juvenile justice team or where, for
some reason, police investigations cannot be continued—for example, the
withdrawal of a complaint. The number of these sanctioned offences is expressed
as a percentage of the total number of verified offences reported during the
same period. The clearance rate is the number of reported offences when an
investigation outcome was recorded, which also included insufficient evidence.
With the changes in 2010–11, we have removed some of the ability for
police officers, for instance, to write-off files with insufficient evidence
recorded against them to beef-up the sanction rate result. That is no longer an
appropriate outcome to be recorded on a file to feed into the sanction rate
figures. Also, changes have been made to the Evidence Act 2006, the Criminal
Investigation Act 2006, the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : No, that is not correct—and other legislation
enhancing transparency and accountability.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Midland, I call you to order for the second time. If
you want to ask a supplementary question, I will give you a supplementary
question.
Mrs L.M. HARVEY :
The changes to those legislative instruments that I just referred to mean that
the time taken to resolve offences and complete investigations has increased.
In addition, changes have been made to our domestic violence reporting
requirements, which has increased the number of offences being recorded against
a selection of verified offences—and they have affected the sanction
rate as well.
Since the move to a different
sanction rate model, we believe it has achieved a more effective measure. The
quality of the evidence that has been provided to the courts has improved,
which has resulted in an increase in the percentage of guilty pleas and
convictions. We believe that the quality of the work that we are presenting is
better and police officers are doing a better job. The changes to the way we
are measuring the sanction rate is a better measurement of the effectiveness of
police officers' work.
incredible as this might seem, I have not memorised the entire graph of the
sanction rates over the past five years. However, I can say that the sanction
rate for home burglary for the 2013 financial year was at 10.3 per cent. In
2010–11, police changed the way they calculated the sanction rate. For
members in the house who may not be aware, the sanction rate is the number of
verified offences for which an investigation outcome has been recorded of an
offender being apprehended or processed. That is for things such as an arrest,
a summons, a caution or a referral to a juvenile justice team or where, for
some reason, police investigations cannot be continued—for example, the
withdrawal of a complaint. The number of these sanctioned offences is expressed
as a percentage of the total number of verified offences reported during the
same period. The clearance rate is the number of reported offences when an
investigation outcome was recorded, which also included insufficient evidence.
With the changes in 2010–11, we have removed some of the ability for
police officers, for instance, to write-off files with insufficient evidence
recorded against them to beef-up the sanction rate result. That is no longer an
appropriate outcome to be recorded on a file to feed into the sanction rate
figures. Also, changes have been made to the Evidence Act 2006, the Criminal
Investigation Act 2006, the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 —
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
Mrs
L.M. HARVEY : No, that is not correct—and other legislation
enhancing transparency and accountability.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts interjected.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Midland, I call you to order for the second time. If
you want to ask a supplementary question, I will give you a supplementary
question.
Mrs L.M. HARVEY :
The changes to those legislative instruments that I just referred to mean that
the time taken to resolve offences and complete investigations has increased.
In addition, changes have been made to our domestic violence reporting
requirements, which has increased the number of offences being recorded against
a selection of verified offences—and they have affected the sanction
rate as well.
Since the move to a different
sanction rate model, we believe it has achieved a more effective measure. The
quality of the evidence that has been provided to the courts has improved,
which has resulted in an increase in the percentage of guilty pleas and
convictions. We believe that the quality of the work that we are presenting is
better and police officers are doing a better job. The changes to the way we
are measuring the sanction rate is a better measurement of the effectiveness of
police officers' work.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.