Perth police sent in to curb crime

Eight police officers have been sent from Perth to Port Hedland to help frontline officers tackle a spike in antisocial behaviour in the town.

The officers arrived last Wednesday and have since been briefed at South Hedland Police Station, where cultural problems in town were discussed.

The officers will work on a rotational basis for the next three months and will assist Port and South Hedland police with general tasks such as responding to calls, monitoring CCTV footage, and liaising with media.

South Hedland Senior Constable Jason Taylor, who will be working closely with the officers, said the main priority was to increase patrols of common areas that had a lot of alcohol-related incidents.

Sen. Const. Taylor said the officers would be helping the shortage of police in Port and South Hedland to promote zero tolerance to street-drinking, which had led to regular fights between members of the public. He said the areas that attracted the most antisocial behaviour were the South Hedland Shopping Square, Centenary Square and Lawson Street.

Sen. Const. Taylor said the police would monitor the South Hedland Shopping precinct from 3pm until close while engaging with shopping centre staff and management to cover any issues they had, and ensure the service of alcohol at Liquorland was responsible.

South Hedland Police Station operations officer Andrew Ransden said the extra officers would also be responsible for conducting traffic operations and targeting the high volume of burglaries that had occurred over the past month.

He said police had been working hard with the small team they had in South Hedland and Port Hedland to curb crime.

Perth regional operations group officer Liam Creig said the town was experiencing serious antisocial issues, along with high-volume crime.

“We are here to help out as much as we can,” he said.

He said if the extra police numbers helped tackle antisocial behaviour and crime, operations could be continued.

South Hedland Police Station Senior Sergeant Dean Snashall said police would have a better indication of whether extra police were required after looking over the figures and results at the end of the three months.

“We are certainly doing this to see if we can make a dent in the issues and to see whether or not the presence of more cops is the right direction,” he said.