❓ Mr. Katsambanis questions the Minister for Police about understaffing in the sex offender management squad due to alleged police number cuts. The Minister denies cuts, highlighting increased police numbers and resource allocation, assuring the squad is adequately managed.
AnsweredQoN 963Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
ADDITIONAL OFFICERS
963. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the minister's
comments in the house on 18 October regarding the cuts to police numbers. I quote
—
As members are aware, a redundancy
scheme has been announced. For this year and next year, numbers are down. They
are down overall �
Can the minister confirm that the
police union is rightly concerned that the sex offender management squad is
critically understaffed and, as a result, the public is at increased risk of
dangerous sexual predators?
ADDITIONAL OFFICERS
963. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Minister for Police:
I refer to the minister's
comments in the house on 18 October regarding the cuts to police numbers. I quote
—
As members are aware, a redundancy
scheme has been announced. For this year and next year, numbers are down. They
are down overall �
Can the minister confirm that the
police union is rightly concerned that the sex offender management squad is
critically understaffed and, as a result, the public is at increased risk of
dangerous sexual predators?
AnswerView source ↗
Of course, the preamble to the
question is incorrect. We are not cutting police numbers. Unlike members
opposite, we are increasing police numbers. Members may recall that members
opposite made no commitment at the election to increase police numbers. We have
made a commitment to increase police numbers by some 137, including 100 into
the meth action task force, which is delivering excellent results and driving
down crime. We have had record seizures of methamphetamine, which is the
biggest scourge on the community and something that members opposite failed to
do anything about. They would not even acknowledge the meth crisis whilst we
saw methamphetamine use levels going through the roof. We recently had the
wastewater results in which we saw there has been a 50 per cent reduction in
the amount of meth found in wastewater. The investment by our government is
really paying dividends. We are also dedicating another 25 officers to the
regional enforcement unit, which targets the major roads that go to Albany, Bunbury
and Geraldton. Most of the run-off-road crashes occur there and a police
presence is needed. That is what the regional enforcement unit is about. Even
though the opposition does not like it, we have also created another three
24-hour police stations in the metropolitan area because we believe they are
needed. We have also allocated an additional 13 officers for that task. The
member for Hillarys well knows that the allocation of resources is a matter for
the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police very carefully monitors
the demands of the sex offender management squad. I recently had a report
regarding the sex offender management squad. I have been assured by the
assistant commissioner responsible for that area that it has been targeting and
breaching more of those offenders in recent times than they had previously.
Basically, they are putting more resources and effort into that area, not
fewer.
question is incorrect. We are not cutting police numbers. Unlike members
opposite, we are increasing police numbers. Members may recall that members
opposite made no commitment at the election to increase police numbers. We have
made a commitment to increase police numbers by some 137, including 100 into
the meth action task force, which is delivering excellent results and driving
down crime. We have had record seizures of methamphetamine, which is the
biggest scourge on the community and something that members opposite failed to
do anything about. They would not even acknowledge the meth crisis whilst we
saw methamphetamine use levels going through the roof. We recently had the
wastewater results in which we saw there has been a 50 per cent reduction in
the amount of meth found in wastewater. The investment by our government is
really paying dividends. We are also dedicating another 25 officers to the
regional enforcement unit, which targets the major roads that go to Albany, Bunbury
and Geraldton. Most of the run-off-road crashes occur there and a police
presence is needed. That is what the regional enforcement unit is about. Even
though the opposition does not like it, we have also created another three
24-hour police stations in the metropolitan area because we believe they are
needed. We have also allocated an additional 13 officers for that task. The
member for Hillarys well knows that the allocation of resources is a matter for
the Commissioner of Police. The Commissioner of Police very carefully monitors
the demands of the sex offender management squad. I recently had a report
regarding the sex offender management squad. I have been assured by the
assistant commissioner responsible for that area that it has been targeting and
breaching more of those offenders in recent times than they had previously.
Basically, they are putting more resources and effort into that area, not
fewer.
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.