Kununurra: Kimberley District Superintendent John Hutchison insists youth crime has ‘quietened down’

The Kimberley’s top cop says a bolstered police presence in Kununurra has returned youth crime to “normal” levels, adding the blitz has had a “positive effect” throughout the community. WA Police last month sent extra resources to Kununurra after 29 juveniles were arrested over a string of car thefts and burglaries in just five days. This included eight children aged between 10 and 15 picked up over a three-hour crime rampage on October 22. The following day, nine children — aged between 10 and 17 — were arrested after stealing a car and recklessly driving it around town in a bid to flee police. Kimberley District Superintendent John Hutchison said the heightened focus was already having an effect. “The operation remains ongoing and we do have extra resources that are remaining there and we will continue to do so until we don’t need them anymore,” he told The West Australian. “They are continuing along with the patrolling and talking to anyone acting suspiciously (and) investigating offences as they occur. “The community itself is very positive of police actions and we’re seeing some really positive signs.” Supt. Hutchison could not confirm how many additional arrests had been made since the beginning of the blitz, but said it was “definitely not uncommon that people get arrested, including juveniles, for committing offences.” Officers had introduced various policing strategies and Supt. Hutchison said youth crime in and around the town had returned to “normal” levels. “I think this operation really came to light and received a lot of attention because of the spike that occurred over that two or three day period, and we’re just seeing things return to more of what we would consider normal,” he said. “There’s always some offending, however at this stage it seems to have quietened down a lot. “We’ve also instigated a number of strategies up there, some of them overt, some of them covert ... obviously people will see some of the changes and then not see others. “We will continue to monitor our strategies (and) monitor the success until we think it’s really stopped.” Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed the extra officers would stay in the region for “as long as they were needed”. He said in places like Kununurra, there needed to be wider focus on the early years of a child’s life to stop the next generation of youth offenders. “We know we’ve arrested nearly over 30 kids in the last week for various offences, primarily car thefts and burglaries,” he said last month. “The last few nights have been extremely quiet, (with) significant police on the roads, and I think the kids know we are there in big numbers. “But, again, it doesn’t alleviate their home issues and some of the other social issues that they are dealing with on a daily basis.” Supt. Hutchison said police were continuing to engage with Aboriginal elders and other State organisations in the area. “We’re constantly working with our partner agencies that are there; the Department of Communities, Department of Education, Department of Justice, the list goes on,” he said. “We’re constantly liaising with a wide variety of people and taking advice on board and will continue to do so.” He said he was “very optimistic” about the future of Kununurra and the Kimberley, adding that policing in the region had “never been better.” “We’ve got more resources every day of the year in the Kimberley to what we’ve ever had before, and we’ve even added to those with these extra Operation Regional Shield staff,” he said. Operation Regional Shield originated in 2022 in a bid to crackdown on youth violence and crime in the Kimberley by sending more metropolitan officers to the regions. “We’re seeing some very positive signs — we do have these little hiccups every now and then, but generally speaking, the Kimberley is one of the safest places in Australia for people to live and it will continue to be like that,” Supt. Hutchison said. “The police up here are very well-resourced, very committed to the job, (and) we rely on our communities and we get a lot of support from the communities.” But he acknowledged it would be a while before there would be any permanent change to juvenile crime concerns. “It’s early days, but these things take some to time have a real change (and) change the way these young kids think,” he said. “We’re trying to instigate some strategies with our partners basically to stop them from wanting to go out and offend. “We can’t just keep arresting our way out of it, we need to rely on the community and our partners to help us.”