Over the 2 decades to 2020–21, offences against the person have more than doubled. The number of defendants finalised in criminal courts rose from 68,553 in 2004–05 to 78,089 in 2019–20.
WA’s prison population grew from 3,482 in 2004–05 to 6,770 in 2019–20 and in 2020–21, the state had 668 large bushfires, 3,157 small bushfires and 4,918 other fires.
Strategic justification
Policing and justice systems are intricately linked to a range of social, health and economic drivers. The nature of crime is changing – offenders find new ways to commit crime, they are older and many struggle with mental health, drug and alcohol issues. This is changing how police and justice services and infrastructure are used. Demand for emergency services continues to increase and change, in part due to longer and overlapping bushfire seasons, sea-level rises and water shortages. More incidents are occurring in dense and increasingly congested urban areas, and remote and difficult to access locations.