A Mandurah councillor has expressed concerns for the safety of residents, after a man was shot and killed by police in Wannanup.
Like others in the Mandurah community, Coastal Ward councillor Tahlia Jones woke up to the shocking news on Sunday morning.
Reports flooded in that a man had been tasered and shot, after allegedly advancing towards officers with a knife in a car park along Rod Court near Pines Restaurant.
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The man died a short time later at Peel Health Campus.
In the wake of the incident, Ms Jones has spoken out advocating for the safety of her constituency.
“As a both a resident of the Wannanup community and a Coastal Ward councillor I'm very concerned about the level of criminal activity right on our door step,” she told the Mandurah Mail on Tuesday.
“I am pushing for further safety measures, including the installation of CCTV cameras in this particular car park.”
Ms Jones said she had even gone so far as to raise her concerns with Dawesville MP Zak Kirkup.
She intends to discuss what “can be done at a local level to make our community safer” with the lower house member.
Fellow Coastal Ward councillor Merv Darcy said he “one-hundred per cent” backed Ms Jones intentions.
Mr Darcy said the security push aligned with the City of Mandurah’s recent crime prevention initiatives, which particularly targeted the central business district.
Mandurah Police Station acting officer in charge Jaime Raper said he wouldn’t comment on Ms Jones’ push for increased security in Wannanup but labelled the shooting as an “isolated incident”.
He said suspicious people in that particular car park wasn’t a regular occurrence.
While the number of offences state wide has decreased by more than 19 per cent in Western Australia during the last decade, Wannanup’s results show an increase.
In 2017-2018, the southern City of Mandurah suburb recorded 163 offences – up from 120 in 2007-2008.
Drug offences were up 100 per cent, assaults were up 144 per cent and threatening behaviour jumped from zero in 2007-2008 to eight in 2017-2018.
To view the latest crime statistics in WA visit the police force’s website.
