Mandurah residents express frustration to police, minister during crime forum

Topics such as drug use and trafficking, the juvenile justice system, the lack of distractions available for troubled teenagers and the number of police patrolling the streets of Mandurah were on top of the list for the residents.

Despite a general concern over the growth and diversification of crime in Mandurah, police minister Liza Harvey said crime in the area “was turning in the right direction”, with more officers set to patrol the streets from November. 

She also said the state government had put together a battery of new measures to tackle crime, including the new graffiti act, a reform on the “three strikes you are in” legislation for recurring offenders, and tougher penalties for aggravated burglaries.

However, she also expressed the government concerns over WA’s meth epidemic, its domestic violence rate and its increase mental health related cases, but she said they were working with police to tackle the problem.

Commissioner of police Karl O'Callaghan said meth was the drive behind most of the crimes, and said the community needed to be more understanding of the complexity of policing. 

“We have to understand what is going on, we have to understand the drivers, we have to understand the victims and we have to understand the offenders,” he said.

During the question round, residents expressed their criticisms and personal frustrations about the police system, including case mishandling, cross-communication, slow processes and the lack of knowledge over where to go to get an answer to their problems.

Mr O’Callaghan and Ms Harvey encouraged residents to use the opportunity to discuss their issues with their local officers at the end of the forum.