The head of Western Australia's anti-corruption body has criticised the police's use of dogs against young people, and said policies governing their deployment were not "racist in intent, but are racist".
Last year the ABC revealed the injuries inflicted on a 13-year-old boy as police were responding to reports of "disturbances" late at night in suburban Perth.
He spent multiple days in surgery after being left with severe injuries to his face, neck and arm, with his family left wanting answers about how the incident unfolded.
Police initially said a number of people who were allegedly with the boy had been charged over incidents that night, with the 13-year-old receiving a juvenile caution.
However, the day after this story was published, they said the boy had been charged with seven offences – including aggravated burglary with intent, stealing, criminal damage and trespass – and had been referred to the juvenile justice team, a step up from a caution.
WA Police said an internal affairs review into the incident had been completed and the officer cleared, with the dog since being returned to duty following retraining.
They did not specify why or how the dog was retrained.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday for a regularly scheduled appearance, Corruption and Crime Commissioner John McKechnie used his opening statement to raise concerns about WA Police's use of dogs, which he said officers regard as a level of force between tasers and firearms.
"The word complex does not begin to describe the issue of juvenile offending and its causes and solutions are difficult," he told the committee.
"But at the end of the day, are we a people who are content to unleash dogs on children?
"I think we're better than that."
But state Police Minister Paul Papalia said police rarely knew who they were pursuing.
"It's often at night time, in the dark, and people are only apprehended by police dogs if they've failed to stop when they've been given a warning and they continue to represent a threat," Mr Papalia said.
"So I support police dogs and the use of police dogs under our current policy. Police dogs stop crime."
'Not racist in intent, but racist'
After looking into the use of police dogs last year, the CCC found about 61 per cent of all deployments in 2020/21 were targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mr McKechnie said while all allegations of serious misconduct were reviewed by the Commission, it was often "difficult" to verify those claims when officers were "substantially" following procedures.
The former Supreme Court justice said his main concern was about the broader policies governing the use of canines.
"The present policies are not racist in intent, but are racist," he said.
"Many deployments are against young and or Indigenous persons."
Examine causes of offending: McKechnie
Speaking outside the committee, Mr McKechnie said it was indisputable the community needed to be protected, but questioned whether police dogs were the best way of doing that.
"There are many players, many actors, who have to deal with this," he said.
"I feel sorry for the police because they're the sort of [the] second-last line when all else has failed.
"But we really need to address the causes of that offending and simply locking people up and simply letting dogs loose is not going to affect it."
He said Police Commissioner Col Blanch was "actively working on the issue".
"I don't think he's actively opposing it, he's trying to seek a solution like many people are to the problems that lead to Banksia Hill and lead to this," Mr McKechnie said.
In a statement, a WA Police spokesperson said the force worked closely with the CCC regarding the use of police dogs.
"Further to this, WA Police Force reviews policies and procedures as part of normal duties in order to ensure the best and safest outcomes for the community," they said.
"The ability for an officer to use force, including deployment of a police canine, is carefully considered and the subject of frequent training and review.
"Officers are generally using force in dynamic and dangerous situations, and are making these decisions in a matter of seconds."
Handlers 'not targeting Aboriginal people'
Last year's CCC report into the issue did not identify "any evidence of canine handlers culturally targeting Aboriginal persons in the deployment of police dogs".
But it did recommend police undertake further analysis to consider reasons for the over-representation.
At the time, Mr Papalia described the over-representation as a "superficial analysis", a sentiment he repeated on Wednesday.
Obviously, data like that just reflects who has been pursued by having allegedly committed offences," he said.
What has happened is someone has called the police urgently, they feel threatened, there is a threat to the community, and the community is seeking assistance, and police dogs are deployed in those instances."
The report also identified "ambiguity" in how police dogs were meant to be used, which Mr Papalia said he was "sure" had been addressed.
The commissioner said while officers go into "situations of peril", and canines can provide useful protection for police, a balance needed to be struck.
"We look forward to working with the Commissioner of Police to find a way of limiting the use of dogs while maintaining protection of the community," he said.
WA Police has been contacted for comment.
Liberal leader Libby Mettam said it was "a stretch" to suggest the use of police dogs was racist.
"WA has an issue with crime and our WA Police officers need to be supported in undertaking their job in keeping the WA community safe," she said.
"If you do the wrong thing you will face the force of the law."
Ms Mettam acknowledged the tools used by police "can always be reviewed".
Phil Edman laptop 'did not live up to hype'
During his appearance before the committee, Mr McKechnie was also asked about what the commission had found on a laptop which it seized from former Liberal MP Phil Edman.
He said the CCC's investigation had "effectively ended".
The CCC took the laptop and two hard drives after publishing a damning report into his misuse of parliamentary expenses in 2019 but ran into long-running legal issues around whether documents they contained could be subject to parliamentary privilege.
In December 2021 more than half a million files were handed to the CCC from the devices, after being considered by a parliamentary committee.
Mr Edman had sent a message to a businessman in September 2019 saying, "there's enough stuff on that f***en computer to bury a f***en a lot of people and ruin their political careers forever".
But Mr McKechnie told the committee the laptop "did not live up to its hype".
"I haven't seen anybody that needs to be buried with the contents," he said outside the hearing.
The commissioner said the CCC was continuing to look into an issue "on a proposition of our own" in relation to the laptop.
