❓ The Minister for Police addresses concerns about community safety and crime reporting, highlighting government initiatives to combat crimes like shoplifting, fuel drive-offs, and family violence, while also criticising the previous government's approach to these issues and methamphetamine use.
AnsweredQoN 989Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
COMMUNITY SAFETY — CRIME REPORTING
989. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Police:
I
refer to the impact that crimes such as shoplifting, fuel drive-offs,
threatening behaviour and family violence have on our community safety,
including perceptions of safety. What is the Western Australia Police Force
doing to encourage community members to report these crimes, and what results
are police achieving?
COMMUNITY SAFETY — CRIME REPORTING
989. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Police:
I
refer to the impact that crimes such as shoplifting, fuel drive-offs,
threatening behaviour and family violence have on our community safety,
including perceptions of safety. What is the Western Australia Police Force
doing to encourage community members to report these crimes, and what results
are police achieving?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Balcatta for
his excellent question. Fuel drive-offs, shoplifting and family violence
concern the whole community. As a government,
we are now targeting these crimes that were ignored by those sitting opposite us. The member for Balcatta has a keen interest in fuel drive-offs, because
during his student days in the 1990s he worked at a service station. He told me
that he was seeing three or four fuel drive-offs per shift, and he was required
to note them in an exercise book. Under our government, WA Police is now taking
crimes like this seriously. We well remember the Leader of the Opposition's
time as Minister for Police, when we saw double-digit increases in crime month
on month. That was despite the fact that the former government took an attitude
of ignoring fuel drive-offs, rating it as something that was just too hard to
deal with. They were not even reporting them as crimes. Similarly, shoplifting
was all a bit hard, and there were more important crimes to deal with. It is no
wonder, when it stuck with that failed policing model that saw just four
metropolitan police districts.
We
are targeting those key crimes and putting resources into it. We are working
with convenience stores of Australia and others to deal with those fuel
drive-offs. Many of them have put in sophisticated camera equipment and data is now being shared with the WA police so that we
can record those offences and charge the offenders. In September, I announced,
alongside Assistant Commissioner Paul Steel, the police force's new
tougher approach on retail theft. When shopkeepers contact police, they will
take action. Police are taking a tough stand on retail theft and are now being
told, if it is appropriate, to charge those offenders with robbery, not the
slap on the wrist that occurred if someone persisted in reporting a shoplifting
offence under the former government.
The
fact is that we know the key drivers of these crimes and domestic violence, and
methamphetamine is one of those key drivers. We also know that Western Australia
became the meth capital of Australia under the opposition leader. There is
clear independent evidence, according to independent Drug Use Monitoring in
Australia results, that in the Perth watch house in 2012, 28 per cent of people
tested positive for methamphetamine. That seems quite a lot; it is a bit under
one in three people. That more than doubled in the four-year period that the
member for Scarborough was the Minister for Police. By 2016, 60 per cent of
detainees in the Perth watch house were testing positive for methamphetamine,
and she wondered why crime got out of control. We have responded to that. I thank
the Premier for the extra $125.9 million in the police budget for 100 extra
officers and 20 other support staff. It is part of our government's
nearly $250 million meth action plan. I note that recently the quarterly crime
statistics came out. I can report to the house that so far in 2019 there have
been 149 570 offences. That is a lot of offences right across the board. That
includes all the extra offences that we are now including because of the fuel
drive-offs, shoplifting and the stronger approach that we are taking to
domestic assaults. In 2016, that figure was 162 395 to 30 September 2016. That
is 1 200 crimes fewer in the first nine months of this year, compared with the
first nine months of 2016 under the member for Scarborough's watch. A
total of 12 000 offences is a lot. It is 40 offences a day fewer.
his excellent question. Fuel drive-offs, shoplifting and family violence
concern the whole community. As a government,
we are now targeting these crimes that were ignored by those sitting opposite us. The member for Balcatta has a keen interest in fuel drive-offs, because
during his student days in the 1990s he worked at a service station. He told me
that he was seeing three or four fuel drive-offs per shift, and he was required
to note them in an exercise book. Under our government, WA Police is now taking
crimes like this seriously. We well remember the Leader of the Opposition's
time as Minister for Police, when we saw double-digit increases in crime month
on month. That was despite the fact that the former government took an attitude
of ignoring fuel drive-offs, rating it as something that was just too hard to
deal with. They were not even reporting them as crimes. Similarly, shoplifting
was all a bit hard, and there were more important crimes to deal with. It is no
wonder, when it stuck with that failed policing model that saw just four
metropolitan police districts.
We
are targeting those key crimes and putting resources into it. We are working
with convenience stores of Australia and others to deal with those fuel
drive-offs. Many of them have put in sophisticated camera equipment and data is now being shared with the WA police so that we
can record those offences and charge the offenders. In September, I announced,
alongside Assistant Commissioner Paul Steel, the police force's new
tougher approach on retail theft. When shopkeepers contact police, they will
take action. Police are taking a tough stand on retail theft and are now being
told, if it is appropriate, to charge those offenders with robbery, not the
slap on the wrist that occurred if someone persisted in reporting a shoplifting
offence under the former government.
The
fact is that we know the key drivers of these crimes and domestic violence, and
methamphetamine is one of those key drivers. We also know that Western Australia
became the meth capital of Australia under the opposition leader. There is
clear independent evidence, according to independent Drug Use Monitoring in
Australia results, that in the Perth watch house in 2012, 28 per cent of people
tested positive for methamphetamine. That seems quite a lot; it is a bit under
one in three people. That more than doubled in the four-year period that the
member for Scarborough was the Minister for Police. By 2016, 60 per cent of
detainees in the Perth watch house were testing positive for methamphetamine,
and she wondered why crime got out of control. We have responded to that. I thank
the Premier for the extra $125.9 million in the police budget for 100 extra
officers and 20 other support staff. It is part of our government's
nearly $250 million meth action plan. I note that recently the quarterly crime
statistics came out. I can report to the house that so far in 2019 there have
been 149 570 offences. That is a lot of offences right across the board. That
includes all the extra offences that we are now including because of the fuel
drive-offs, shoplifting and the stronger approach that we are taking to
domestic assaults. In 2016, that figure was 162 395 to 30 September 2016. That
is 1 200 crimes fewer in the first nine months of this year, compared with the
first nine months of 2016 under the member for Scarborough's watch. A
total of 12 000 offences is a lot. It is 40 offences a day fewer.
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