WA Police to start rolling out extra resources over summer to regional hotspots in Geraldton

A summer crime crackdown, which will bring extra police resources to regional WA, will be launched in Geraldton this week.

Police Minister Paul Papalia will be in Geraldton on Tuesday to announce the initiative, delivered under the $23.4 million Operation Regional Shield will start in the Mid West city.

Crime rates have surged recently in the Mid West-Gascoyne region, with retailers expressing their desperation and frustration.

Over the past three months, according to WA Police data, total reported offences have jumped by 31.5 per cent, including burglaries (up 93.5 per cent) and stealing (up 81.8 per cent).

Last summer the Mid West-Gascoyne experienced a 20 per cent rise in reported crime compared with the previous summer.

Additional police resources are sent to regional hotspots in a bid to “suppress and disrupt criminal offending and enhance public safety” during the busy holiday period.

Those extra assets stationed in regional centres could include general duties officers and analysts, as well as specialist officers from the regional operations group, tactical response group, police air wing, licensing enforcement division, Aboriginal affairs division, and the canine division.

The summer crackdown will include both high-visibility and covert policing.

Mr Papalia said the Cook Government was aware summer was extremely busy for country communities and would continue to support them, and equip local police with the best tools and technology.

“Operation Regional Shield enables rapid scale-up of police resources across the State, and it has delivered great results since it was first established in 2022,” he said.

“This uplift in Regional Shield deployments will keep the community safe and help to apprehend offenders and bring them to justice.”

Geraldton MLA Lara Dalton said Geraldton police did a fantastic job and she was pleased to see their efforts would be boosted by more officers and assets on the ground during summer.

“Our small businesses will benefit from police being able to employ our new retail theft laws which remove the fine-only penalty and impose harsh new sentences for repeat offenders,” she said.

“In other regional centres like Broome, Operation Regional Shield has stopped kids roaming the streets at all hours and significantly reduced juvenile offending.”

Last year, WA Police recruited 783 new officers — the largest amount in the force’s 171-year history.

Mr Papalia also said in a world-first law enforcement initiative, high-speed internet was being rolled out in 550 police vehicles and 129 police stations to strengthen emergency communication in regional and remote WA.