Between a rock and a hard place: Town of Port Hedland may be at risk of being sued over crime-busting boulders

The Town of Port Hedland is checking if it needs to remove boulders used as police protection barriers during car chases after a Kimberley town was advised to remove similar strategically placed rocks. The Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley was told by its insurer to remove large boulders that had been effective in deterring stolen cars driving wildly through the town because a thief might crash into them. Twelve strategically placed boulders had been put on the road reserves of two main intersections for police to hide behind after deploying road spikes to stop oncoming stolen vehicles. The strategy worked in reducing car thefts and hooning through town, but the Local Government Insurance Scheme recently told the shire it would not be insured if a vehicle crashed into the boulders and councillors could find themselves personally exposed to litigation. The council voted at this week’s meeting to remove the rocks from the intersection — even though in reality they had been taken away weeks earlier. Now South Hedland’s similarly strategically placed boulders may also need to be removed. The rocks — weighing between 12 to 15 tonnes — were installed in 2022 at the request of police after a spike in vehicle thefts. A town spokesperson said in a statement: “It is important to note that the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley decision is in relation to large boulders that are strategically placed for police protection. “The Town of Port Hedland has a small number of similar police protection boulders — these are different to smaller boulders placed in drains and off-road reserves to restrict vehicle access. “The handful of boulders placed for police protection were done so at the request of police and we have not received any correspondence from LGIS related to this matter. “We are not aware of any insurance or risk issues related to the placement of police protection barrier boulders and will seek further advice to confirm.”