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Commissioner has plan for offenders

The troubled Oombulgurri Aboriginal Community, closed last month by the State Government, could provide a solution to helping rehabilitate young offenders, according to Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan.

The Commissioner was in Broome last week as part of his Kimberley visit and said the nowdefunct Oombulgurri community, located near Wyndham, could be an “innovative” way of dealing with young offenders.

In an interview with the Broome Advertiser, Mr O’Callaghan said he was not in favour of establishing a juvenile detention centre in the Kimberley because it did not rehabilitate youth effectively.

“In my experience they almost always come out un-rehabilitated,” he said.

“We’ve got to find places to put these kids where they will get alternative leadership, and some development.”

However, he supported an idea raised by a community group in Fitzroy Crossing, to access facilities at the Oombulgurri community to help rehabilitate youngsters.

“Oombulgurri as a community is closed, but there’s a huge primary school up there, a health centre and police station and it’s all in mothballs,” he said.

“They’re (the group) saying ‘why can’t we take kids there? Why can’t we take some elders there?’, and they’re not incarcerated, but they can’t go anywhere.

“I think that’s quite an innovative way to think about dealing with these kids.

“It’s an environment that’s not got four walls, they’ll have a place to sleep, they’ll get properly fed and they’ll have proper development.”

During his time in the Kimberley, Mr O’Callaghan toured the new police facilities at Fitzroy Crossing due to open early next year and the multi-functional station at Looma, expected to open by November.

He also spent time talking to local women at Fitzroy Crossing about alcohol restriction and assured the group the regulations would be upheld.

Mr O’Callaghan also visited Derby to look at expansions to cater for the increasing population.