Infrastructure WA

Justice and public safety

With the world’s largest policing jurisdiction, along with court and corrective services spanning the state, the task of maintaining law and order is a large one. In times of need, police and emergency services, supported by other government agencies, ambulance services and volunteers, manage multi-agency responses to serious incidents and natural disasters.

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.