WA Police forced to fly accused criminals due to regional court closures

WA Police have been forced to fly some accused criminals out of remote communities because of regional court closures.

The state's top judicial officers last month announced more than 20 regional courts would close between June and August over a security dispute between the Justice Department and police.

It resulted in temporary rules being set by the Magistrates Court requiring anyone charged, then refused bail by police, to be taken to the nearest major courthouse for a magistrate to decide on bail.

Previously, those hearings would have been facilitated by video link from the regional police station where the person was arrested.

A WA Police spokesperson has confirmed it has been transporting those people from regional areas to major centres "either by vehicle or by Police Air Wing on weekdays" since the start of the month.

The spokesperson also said police were absorbing the costs of the transfers "as part of business as usual practice" but declined to provide a figure.

In a statement, WA police defended its decision, saying it "utilises the most appropriate resources available to undertake these transports".

Dispute over security

The dispute is centred on security arrangements for regional "circuit" courts, which are only open at certain times of the year when they are visited by travelling judicial officers.

Legislation passed in 1999 was intended to transfer responsibility for court security from police to the Justice Department, which has occurred in the metropolitan area and some regional courts.

But in many remote courts security had been provided by police, including sworn officers.

More recently, in a bid to keep those officers on the beat, the force has used police auxiliary officers — unarmed and unsworn officers — or private security appointed to the role of "special constable".

In mid-May, the heads of the Supreme, District, Magistrates, and Children's courts issued a joint statement saying their services "cannot be guaranteed" between June and August, and that they decided to close those regional courts as a result.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch said he had never given the courts a guarantee, describing the force's role as offering "support" to the Justice Department.

"There's been many domestic violence incidents where we have not had patrols on the ground because they have been performing court security duties," he told 102.5 ABC Perth last week.

"So quite simply, the decision that I made as commissioner, and it is my decision about my own resources, is that police will be out on the street patrolling."

Budget Estimates was last month told an extra 20 police auxiliary officers were currently being trained and should be on the job by the end of August.

"We expect circuit courts to re-open once these additional police auxiliary officers are in place," Police Minister Reece Whitby told the ABC.

Shadow Attorney-General Nick Goiran said the closures could have been avoided if the government had started training those officers earlier.

"It's truly unbelievable that it is only now that this training is occurring when the public record has now confirmed that the government knew about this since December 2024," he said.

"What on earth have they been doing since that period of time?"

'Extraordinary waste of community resources'

Aboriginal Legal Service WA director of legal services, Peter Collins, described the interim situation and the use of the Police Air Wing for transport as a "mind-boggling exercise" and an "extraordinary waste of community resources".

"Surely the resourcing of regional and remote circuit courts, by providing what they've done for time immemorial … must pale into insignificance in comparison to the costs involved in flying people in the police plane across the state to attend court," he said.

Mr Collins was also concerned about the possibility of people being released with no way to go home after being flown from remote communities to larger centres for bail hearings.

A Justice Department spokesperson said it worked closely with duty lawyers, the judiciary and adult community corrections staff to identify people who may need help returning home.

"The Department can assist with communication, transport or accommodation depending on the circumstances of the accused person, and where appropriate," they said.

Limited support

But Mr Collins said it was "inevitable" people would fall through the cracks because the support the Justice Department can provide would be limited.

"There are some places where there are no bus services where people will have to make their own way back courtesy of their own resources or those of family or community," he said.

"They'll be homeless and there'll be further allegations of offending and they'll land in court, potentially in custody, and the whole relentless cycle will commence over and over again."

Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Quinlan said last week he shared those concerns.

"It does give you some idea of the fact that there are no magic solutions to these sorts of things," he told 102.5 ABC Perth.

"Because whatever we do is going to have a follow-on effect to people from the way that we're constrained to operate."