WA's police union says its members have become increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of the Justice Department's electronic monitoring regime, used to track high-risk offenders. Concerns have been raised about the inability to track regional domestic violence offenders, but the union claims the issues are more widespread.
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00:00Two weeks ago, when the ABC revealed the Justice Department's admission in a Bunbury court
00:07that it can't monitor people in regional areas, Roger Cook's solution was simple.
00:11Quite frankly, if the courts cannot make an arrangement whereby an accused serial domestic violence offender
00:20cannot be properly monitored, they need to be put behind bars.
00:24He's now suggesting the solution may not be so straightforward.
00:27Everyone's getting used to the systems, the limitations of the systems, the strengths of the systems
00:33and working together to get those systems working better.
00:36That's despite a two-year trial of the electronic ankle bracelets before the laws took effect in December.
00:42But there have been teething problems, including mobile phone black spots in regional areas
00:46and insufficient departmental staff.
00:49The police union has its own concerns, claiming it can take the Justice Department up to 12 hours
00:54to issue arrest warrants for GPS breaches.
00:57It's the risk to the community.
00:59Police are hamstrung in bringing these people back into custody, purely because of process.
01:04Police sit alongside corrections officers at the State Operations Centre
01:09and they work together literally shoulder to shoulder in that room, understanding, monitoring all these people.
01:16The union claims police in regional areas are also being relied on for routine maintenance of GPS devices,
01:23which they say should be the department's responsibility.
01:26The time for action is now.
01:28Not to kick this can down the road for another six weeks, another eight weeks.
01:32The Department of Justice didn't respond directly to the ABC's questions about the police union's concerns,
01:38but it did point to the State Government's promise of a further 12 full-time positions for GPS monitoring in its upcoming budget.
01:46You will see the police union's concerns.
01:48I've seen an ongoing commission with our parents,
01:49which has a few times in the past three days and a few times from that possibly.
01:52The department of Justice and Justice will be the partner of a more organisation but also пожалуйable.
01:54The department of Justice and Justice, Database,
02:00is a Great-Songer of Justice and Justice,
02:02which is a fair honourable part of the team.
02:04You will see the department of Justice,
02:07which is the department of Justice,
02:09which is the department of Justice.
02:11You need to be the department of Justice,