The state government and WA Police have begun a large-scale police response in the Kimberley in a bid to stem escalating rates of youth crime and criminal violence.
Twenty-four officers began arriving in the Kimberley last night for Operation Regional Shield, with the goal of targeting the ringleaders of the increasingly violent crime wave and disruptive juvenile offending.
Youth crime has jumped 54 per cent on the two-year average across the Kimberley, with 526 burglaries reported last year alone, and 273 serious youth offenders identified by police.
But it is the increasing number of attacks on Kimberley police that appear to have spurred the government into action in this case.
Five police officers have been injured, 11 police vehicles damaged and three local police stations rammed in recent months — all by youths driving stolen vehicles.
While Police Minister Paul Papalia maintains that this problem cannot be solved solely by WA Police, he said the escalating violence required immediate police intervention.
"It's about addressing juvenile offending in the north in a much more comprehensive manner than just policing," he said.
Officers deployed to the Kimberley include members of the canine unit, the police air wing and detectives from the intelligence unit, who will specifically target the use of social media platforms TikTok and Snapchat by offenders to document their crimes and stage cross-community challenges across northern WA.
With Derby Police Station reportedly 10 officers short of its full compliment, Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said the additional officers would be deployed to whichever communities required them.
"We need to find a away to get ahead of this problem."
In addition to the crime response, police will also be picking up at-risk children found roaming the streets of Kimberley communities and taking them to a safe place, whether that's at home, or into the care of the Department of Communities.
"We're seeing 10, 11, 12-year-olds out in the street. We're going to get to those kids before they commit the crime at night," Mr Blanch said.
Crime becoming normalised in the north
While the police response has been broadly welcomed, questions have been asked as to why the government has waited until now to act, with the first attack on an officer occurring in September last year, and the young criminals' social media bravado being evident for months.
On Monday morning, residents in Old Broome woke to the sound of an explosion.
A four-wheel-drive, stolen from a local hire car company, had been dumped and torched in bushland adjacent to Broome Cemetery, shortly after it was used to ram-raid a local telecommunications business.
Moist conditions, and the fact much of the bush block has been burned out by similar torchings already, stopped the fire from spreading.
The business closed its doors for repairs, police began investigating, images of the burned-out shell made their way to social media and locals were left wondering what the next string of break-ins, burglaries and car thefts would bring.
Two hours up Great Northern Highway in Derby, long-time local Kerry Leamy was assaulted by a would be thief wielding a metal bar while responding to the fourth break-in at the town's Sportsmen's Club in the space of a week.
In Fitzroy Crossing, a 16-year-old boy was last week charged over the death of a 12-year-old girl in a crash in July last year.
They had both piled into a stolen car alongside five other children and teenagers.
And in Kununurra, the local shire has increased security at the local airport, out of a genuine fear local children will attempt to steal an aircraft.
"It definitely has escalated — I think a blind man on a galloping horse could see the number of offences has risen," Broome Shire President Harold Tracey said.
Mr Tracey had travelled to Perth this week alongside his counterparts from the Kimberley's four local shires in a bid to lobby the WA government for more concrete action.
"But what's really concerning for us is the level of violence and the level of personal harm to people," he said.
Longer-term response needed
While the operation is slated to run for a month, the government says it will be funded and resourced to run for as long as required.
But Kimberley MP Divina D'Anna said the goal was to pursue a solution beyond policing.
"If the police turn into a long-term response, we're obviously failing everywhere else," Ms D'Anna said.
The rollout of the Target 120 program, which entails multi-agency groups in each community working with specific offenders and their families, is likely to be a gradual process due to the intensive, specific nature of the work.
But funding will be made available for community-led crime prevention programs and solutions.
Ms D'Anna said alternative, on-country sentencing options were also being examined.
"Any facility should be in the Kimberley, and look at more than just the individual," she said.
"It needs to be therapeutic, healing and educational, and not just about taking these kids and putting them somewhere out of sight and out of mind."
Derby West Kimberley Shire President Geoff Haerewa said it had been a frustrating process, but there was now hope for progress.
"It's my opinion that the [Kimberley] juvenile justice strategy hasn't worked," he said.
As for longer-term plans, Mr Haerewa said safe-houses for at-risk youth in each Kimberley community were a priority, and he hoped the government would look to develop larger on-country sentencing programs for both the East and West Kimberley.
"The talks we've had with all the different ministers have been very positive," he said.
"I know that doesn't solve issues immediately — but we are working closely with them now, and they are opening up to us for more practical solutions.
Too much being left up to police: Union
But the WA Police Union said too much was being left to police, and other agencies were failing to live up to their responsibilities to the community.
"The Kimberley needs the urgent attention of not only WA Police , but also the Department of Communities and the Department of Justice, neither of which are supporting our overloaded members," Union President Mick Kelly said.
While conceding the police response was happening immediately, Mr Papalia said officers would be working in collaboration with all government agencies as part of the longer-term strategy.
