Electronic monitoring
56. Mr Adam Hort to the Minister for Police:
My questions are to the Minister for Police, and they are very specific questions. I refer to concerns raised by the Western Australian Police Union on Monday about police officers becoming increasingly frustrated with the Department of Justice's electronic monitoring program due to a lack of resources and unnecessary delays.
(1) How quickly is the Western Australia Police Force responding to alerts generated from electronic monitoring in regional WA?
(2) Is it true that, in some cases, it can take six to 12 hours or even longer for police to respond to a breach?
(3) Is it a core business of WA police to carry out routine maintenance of tracking devices in regional areas, which commonly involves replacing flat batteries?
Mr Reece Whitby replied:
As multiple ministers have said today, this is one of the most advanced and best policies for family and domestic violence in the country. We have invested half a billion dollars, and the rest of the world is coming to us to see how to do it. As for police reaction times, I can assure you that it is instantaneous. The response is instantaneous. If you get up to speed with your portfolio and if you visit the State Operations Command Centre, you will see—
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members! Members of the opposition!
Mr Reece Whitby: That is enough theatrics for the day. I would like to address the member for Kalamunda. You will see that an alert goes off on a computer in that centre. It is monitored 24/7 by Department of Justice officers and police, and a response is instantaneous. We are in a big state, and the police who will respond to those urgent requirements will do so instantaneously. The member wants me to tell him how many kilometres each person travels; I cannot do that, but I am telling him that the police do their job. They are conscientious. They are very aware of family and domestic violence, and they respond as quickly as they possibly can at all times. I think that it is a bit sad that, as the new police shadow spokesman, the member would be calling into question their response times or their commitment to this issue.
57. Mr Adam Hort to the Minister for Police:
Does the minister seriously believe that the current monitoring system is delivering the rapid responses that were promised?
Mr Reece Whitby replied:
As I told the member, when he gets a chance to explore his new portfolio, learn more, get up to speed and appreciate the issues he is raising, rather than just making it up, he will appreciate that there is an instantaneous response to any alarm that goes off when it is detected that a device is going to an exclusion zone or being removed. That is the way police operate. There is 24/7 coverage from police and the Department of Justice. As soon as there is an issue, they respond, they assign resources, and they go out on location as quickly as they can.
The Speaker: Thank you, minister. Members, that concludes question time. I make one observation: some of the opposition questions were quite lengthy. There was a lot of preamble in there. If you could pare that back in the future, that would be great.
