Forum to discuss new police model queries
POLICE FORUM
Wednesday, June 25, 6pm
Gary Holland Community Centre
19 Kent Street, Rockingham
Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan will swing by Rockingham next week to answer any niggling questions residents have about the new metropolitan Police Operating Model.
The model, set to change procedures in Rockingham in September, will include the South Metro and Peel districts merging to form the new South Metro District, which will have up to 550 police officers.
Mr O’Callaghan said residents could expect more police on the streets with a 30 per cent increase in officers to the region, faster response times, extra detectives, increased traffic resources and one-on-one relationships with police officers.
He said the idea behind the model was to create three types of activity — response teams, local policing teams and investigations — co-ordinated through a 24/7 District Control Centre.
“Response teams will be there when you call, the local policing teams will concentrate on local issues in your suburb and the District Control Centre will ensure officers are best positioned to meet the demand on our services,” he said.
Mr O’Callaghan said residents would have access to their local policing team’s mobile phone numbers, and possibly twitter and Facebook accounts to exchange information and discuss suburb issues.
“The good thing about that is those officers will know local problem families, local problem kids, places where people are using drugs and they can go and sort that out.”
In regards to the ongoing call for a police station in Secret Harbour, Mr O’Callaghan said the new model would meet residents’ needs.
“Police stations are just places for police officers to hang their hats, really aren’t they?” he said.
“What we want is police officers out on the street and this whole reform process is about making sure that police officers are not just in buildings.”
After positive results from a six-month trial in the South East Metro district, Mr O’Callaghan said it made sense to progress the model to areas of slightly higher crime in the State.
These include Rockingham, Kwinana and the strip towards Mandurah.
“What we found when we trialled it there (South East Metro) is there has been a 13 per cent increase in public approval and an eight per cent decrease in the crime rate,” he said.
