Police Commissioner Col Blanch reveals modern-day plan to keep WA safe from bikies, paedophiles

Using cutting-edge technology used in space exploration and the resources industry to solve major crimes, teaming up with the FBI to expose paedophiles, and continuing a mission to make WA the most “hostile” place in the country for outlaw motorcycle gangs. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, WA’s new top cop Col Blanch revealed his vision for the future of his police force, which also included modernising the agency to solve crimes faster, increasing officer safety and reducing repetitive paperwork. Mr Blanch has also vowed to give his officers the best working conditions possible within the boundaries of a tough, “24/7 police force” in an effort to quell a wave of resignations and encourage them to stay on the front line. FORCE OF THE FUTURE As Deputy Commissioner under now-WA Governor Chris Dawson over the past three years, Mr Blanch has already been responsible for helping to implement some of the technology that has transformed policing in this State. Mr Blanch said that work would continue as he takes on the top job. Part of that plan is to leverage off the groundbreaking technology being developed and used in the mining, oil and gas industries and use that capability in solving crimes. It can be revealed WA Police recently awarded a $4.9 million contract to “missions specialist” company Fugro — which specialises in autonomous vehicles, robotics, data analysis and remote communications. The company has also recently partnered with the Australian Space Agency to build and operate the Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control Complex in Perth. “In the context of mining and space exploration — remote communications, big data analytics and using robots essentially — funnily enough, applies directly to our problems,” Mr Blanch said. “Because as police, certainly policing a third of Australia . . . we have to have the best remote communications, we have to analyse the data when we do retrieve it from all around our State, and we have a lot of autonomous vehicles . . . why wouldn’t we leverage off big companies who are investing in the same thing? “That’s exactly why we’ve brought Fugro on, because they’ve got all the lessons from Rio Tinto, BHP, space exploration, NASA, and we are going to bring them straight into WA Police and use the exact same capabilities to find people who are lost out in the bush and to help people who are lost out in the ocean.” One of Fugro’s specialist underwater equipment has already helped to find the body of eight-year-old boy who went missing in treacherous waters while kayaking at Fernhook Falls near Walpole last year. Mr Blanch said the Nick Martin assassination and the Cleo Smith kidnapping case were examples of where data had to be analysed for a fast result. “We collected so much information that a human couldn’t have gone through it,” he said, referring to the Cleo Smith case. The top cop said new technology would also be used in everyday policing to keep his officers safe and to reduce the amount of paperwork required, keeping more officers on the street rather than stuck in police stations doing administration tasks. TROOP MORALE WA Police has come under fire over the past few months over mass resignations and a union survey that showed morale was at an “all-time low”. Last week, a former senior officer said the exodus could not be blamed on the lure of lucrative, high-paying mining jobs but a toxic “burn and churn” culture. Mr Blanch said he met with police commissioners from across the country in recent weeks who were “all suffering from large amounts of attrition and I do want to stop it”. He said there was an “element of the labour market conditions that give people better opportunities” but “that’s irrelevant”. “I don’t want experienced cops leaving the WA Police Force,” he said. “I want to keep them motivated, energised, to stay in the police.” Mr Blanch said he had been speaking with front-line troops because “I want to make sure that they understand my vision, what I want to bring for them”. “I want to give them the best conditions that they can have within the boundaries of operating a 24/7 police force,” he said. “It is a tough job and I can’t change the fact that we need to service our community 24/7 in some of the most hostile places in the world. “So we need police officers who are prepared to do that, but then I can build on the best conditions for them within those boundaries, and it’s about me communicating with them, encouraging them to stay, showing them the great things about this job.” Responding to claims WA Police has failed to provide officers enough mental health support, he said the agency had “invested significantly” in services but admitted he had “received the same feedback in that it’s not working for some of them”. He said he was taking advice from police psychologists and asking officers what was needed because “our people our our greatest asset”. “I’ve got to make sure we’ve got the right experts and our officers are getting the right support and that is absolutely my responsibility,” he said. ORGANISED CRIME Anti-bikie laws, introduced late last year, have already made WA “a hostile place for bikies”, Mr Blanch said. “I think we’ve got one of the greatest examples of laws against outlaw motorcycle gangs anywhere in the country by a long way,” he said. But the police chief — who was described as his predecessor as being one of “Australia’s leading serious and organised crime investigators” — said “we are not going to stop there”. As well as tougher firearm laws already introduced into parliament, Mr Blanch said he was in discussion with the McGowan Government about a “raft” of other measures. “I don’t want bikies or organised criminals thinking that they can live in Western Australia without becoming a focus of these types of laws and the options for them are to get out of the game or to leave Western Australia,” he said. Criminals overseas who target WA with drug trafficking were also warned that they were “absolutely in the cross-hairs”. “We will have some announcements to make coming up soon about expanding on those areas to focus specifically on transnational criminals,” he said. “We will be targeting them aggressively. “In the next couple of weeks I intend to go and speak to the Commonwealth about what they can do to support us in that. We are going to have a very aggressive posture against those offshore and on the East Coast who are targeting WA.” CHILD PREDATORS Mr Blanch said another area of policing he was “very intent on expanding and growing” was targeting child sex abuse and child-exploitation material crimes. “We are going to use technology super aggressively,” he said. “I’ll be targeting those type of offenders in the community and we will be finding them through using partners like Telstra, like the FBI, like the Commonwealth, and we will be finding people in our community who are exploiting our children.” He added: “You might think you are at home safe downloading this material and you’ll never be found by police, but we’ve found a way to rapidly identify them all very quickly. “So my strong message is, if you’re out there . . . we are coming, and we are coming very, very rapidly.”