❓ The Minister for Police responds to a question regarding equipment provision for WA Police officers, highlighting investments in technology and equipment under the McGowan government, while contrasting it with the previous administration.
AnsweredQoN 397Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE OFFICERS —
EQUIPMENT PROVISION
397. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the extraordinary work
of Western Australian police officers who have taken on various additional
responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic on top of their usual everyday
policing roles. Can the minister update the house on what the McGowan
government is doing to ensure that our police officers have the tools they need
to continue doing their vitally important job of keeping the community safe?
EQUIPMENT PROVISION
397. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the extraordinary work
of Western Australian police officers who have taken on various additional
responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic on top of their usual everyday
policing roles. Can the minister update the house on what the McGowan
government is doing to ensure that our police officers have the tools they need
to continue doing their vitally important job of keeping the community safe?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Belmont for
her question, her ongoing support of our police officers and her kind words
about their response during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is certainly well
deserved.
It is Labor governments in this
state, particularly over the last couple of decades, that have really led the
way in providing police with the tools and
technology that they need to do the job. Unfortunately, during the eight years
of the Barnett–Harvey era, our police fell behind. There was no
money on budget, no procurement and no delivery for the new tools that police
needed. Many of those things were identified but not funded. That is why, when
we came to government, we had to provide the Western Australia Police Force
with an additional $300 million for the police budget. That included some $90 million
for things that police had been asking for for years. WA officers had fallen
behind the rest of Australia on these matters. These included personal issue
body armour to operationally deployable officers, body-worn cameras, drones and
personal-use mobile phones for frontline officers. Last month, we announced
more. We announced the funding of 100 mobile automatic numberplate recognition
cameras to be deployed and 200 GPS tracking devices for electronic monitoring.
These are the tools that police need in the modern era to do their job. As part
of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rolled out early those mobile
phones to our police officers.
Although it is right to focus on
COVID-19 right now, we also need to keep our eye on a range of other things.
For example, the national terrorism threat has not changed; it remains at ''probable''.
We need to be prepared for that. That is why the McGowan government has
invested over $750 000—that is right; over three quarters of a million
dollars—in a new bomb robot. It is 20 years since the Western Australia
Police Force got a new bomb robot. It is a necessary piece of equipment in this
day and age. As we have found out more and more, we are isolated in Western Australia.
We need to have something of that nature to be able to respond. Members know
how fast technology moves. The existing bomb robot is 20 years out of date; it
weighs 400 kilograms and it is bulky and difficult to deploy to the regions.
The new robot that we have recently taken delivery of weighs only 80 kilograms.
It is much smaller. It can go on a plane, a bus or a train. It can be deployed
by plane to Kalgoorlie, Broome or wherever it is needed. This is a big
investment and part of our ongoing investment in providing Western Australian
police with the tools they need to do the job.
her question, her ongoing support of our police officers and her kind words
about their response during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is certainly well
deserved.
It is Labor governments in this
state, particularly over the last couple of decades, that have really led the
way in providing police with the tools and
technology that they need to do the job. Unfortunately, during the eight years
of the Barnett–Harvey era, our police fell behind. There was no
money on budget, no procurement and no delivery for the new tools that police
needed. Many of those things were identified but not funded. That is why, when
we came to government, we had to provide the Western Australia Police Force
with an additional $300 million for the police budget. That included some $90 million
for things that police had been asking for for years. WA officers had fallen
behind the rest of Australia on these matters. These included personal issue
body armour to operationally deployable officers, body-worn cameras, drones and
personal-use mobile phones for frontline officers. Last month, we announced
more. We announced the funding of 100 mobile automatic numberplate recognition
cameras to be deployed and 200 GPS tracking devices for electronic monitoring.
These are the tools that police need in the modern era to do their job. As part
of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rolled out early those mobile
phones to our police officers.
Although it is right to focus on
COVID-19 right now, we also need to keep our eye on a range of other things.
For example, the national terrorism threat has not changed; it remains at ''probable''.
We need to be prepared for that. That is why the McGowan government has
invested over $750 000—that is right; over three quarters of a million
dollars—in a new bomb robot. It is 20 years since the Western Australia
Police Force got a new bomb robot. It is a necessary piece of equipment in this
day and age. As we have found out more and more, we are isolated in Western Australia.
We need to have something of that nature to be able to respond. Members know
how fast technology moves. The existing bomb robot is 20 years out of date; it
weighs 400 kilograms and it is bulky and difficult to deploy to the regions.
The new robot that we have recently taken delivery of weighs only 80 kilograms.
It is much smaller. It can go on a plane, a bus or a train. It can be deployed
by plane to Kalgoorlie, Broome or wherever it is needed. This is a big
investment and part of our ongoing investment in providing Western Australian
police with the tools they need to do the job.
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