Police looking to crack down on ‘high harm offending in Geraldton as Operation Regional Shield unveiled

Police Minister Paul Papalia says a spike in high harm offending by a small number of juveniles in Geraldton sparked the decision to launch a regional-wide summer crime crackdown in the Mid West. Mr Papalia was in Geraldton on Tuesday to announce the rollout of Operation Regional Shield, which was set to give regional areas a boost to police, with more resources to be provided ahead of the summer period. He said the Geraldton area was picked for the launch as a move to crack down on crime. “We do see an uptick generally, a bit of antisocial behaviour and some of the juvenile-led crime right across the regions,” he said. “(It’s) not surprising, there’s school holidays, people are out and about too - the weather enables it. “So in advance of that, we’ll do that there’s a bit of high-harm offending going on here in Geraldton. A small number of juveniles, mostly doing a lot of harm to the community. “What you’ll see is the police catch them, prosecute them, put them away, and that will drop the incidence of crime.” Additional police assets could include specialist police across a number of sectors could be deployed, including the regional operations group, tactical response group, police air wing, and canine section. However, the make up of how the assets are used, and the number of support, remains confidential. “Operational matters should be retained in confidence,” Mr Papalia said. “You don’t want to tell the bad guys how many people or what type of capability you’re deploying in advance of doing it that would be counterproductive.” In Geraldton, retail crime looms as an area local police aim to crack down on. Geraldton police announced the return of bike patrols in the CBD, along the foreshore, and at shopping centres as a means of finding a quicker and more subtle way of combating crime. Cdr Rob Wilde said the extra resources would be beneficial “The police officers, the local superintendents really know their stuff, so they address those problems, but sometimes we can do with some additional assistance from Perth for some of our specialist units,” he said. “So it just gives us that ability to top up their effort. “It may be a detective team, it may be the role or someone similar like that, where we just want to focus on a particular crime type. It gives us the ability bring those police in a short notice and focus on those issues.”