It is important for us all to make an effort over the next few days even if it is just an SMS or email.  We have drafted a letter that you can work from if you do not have the time to write your own but I would urge everyone to take the time to express themselves.  The drafted letter is below.

With the Federal election campaign in full swing many helpful organisations are short on time and money.  More than ever we can rely only on ourselves to have our opinion heard.

HOW DO YOU SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR?

→ All letters must be signed with the writer’s full name and address and, if applicable, telephone number. ADDRESSES WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED Send them to Letters to the Editor, WA Newspapers, GPO Box N1027, Perth WA, 6843. Fax 9482 3830 or

→ EMAIL: letters@wanews.com.au (include full address and telephone number- WHICH WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED). Keep them short and keep copies. They may be edited for Legal reasons or clarity.

→ QUICK SMS OPTION: You can now send text messages and photos for publication on the letters pages. Simply SMS to 0434 600 700 and be sure to include your name and suburb.

SAMPLE LETTER

To the Editor,

In the midst of a federal election campaign it is often all too easy to forget that the wheels of state government keep turning.  However there is one particular issue that cannot be overlooked as we begin a new sitting of the WA Parliament.

The proposed Criminal Investigation Amendment Bill 2009, usually known as the ‘stop and search laws’ is still in the Legislation Committee.  This delay is due to the evidence given from all sectors against the laws, and widespread public opposition such as was represented by the parliamentary petition presented by Search For Your Rights on April 20th.

However I fear that the Premier may attempt to pressure the Committee into handing down a finding while the public is looking the other way.  I fear that the government will push for the laws without the proper scrutiny that such an imprecise and controversial bill demands.  The Premier himself suggested as much at the end of June to the Police Union Conference.

I abhor this bill.  The police already have many powers to search people- all that this legislation will do is create the opportunity for unreasonable searches.  I respect the police force, and do not want their work to be hindered by those who will inevitably abuse these powers and create animosity within Perth society.

I am sick of the Police Minister claiming to act on my behalf when instead he tramples over our rights in a rush to look ‘tough on crime’ by pushing a bill that will in fact do nothing to prevent crime.   Crime is down. (‘WA crime rate down, say police’, The West Australian, July 24).  The Police Minister should be supporting the police in what is clearly already working, not creating flawed legislation that will harm all of us.

I urge you and your publication to maintain a high level of scrutiny on the Barnett government during this parliamentary sitting.  Do not let our rights be quietly legislated away.

Yours truly,

Your name and address here.

To show your disgust at these proposed laws, come down to Murray St Mall and be prepared to “spread ‘em” against a wall once the whistles start going. We will be demonstrating what will occur if these laws are passed: people stopped in the middle of going about their daily business for no reason at all and searched.

Things that WE WON’T be doing but MAY OCCUR IF “stop and search” laws are passed:

• Harassing you
• Stripping you
• Fondling you
• Taking you away to a police station for failure to produce ID
• Searching you without consent
• Banning you from public places

These are all things that Search For Your Rights’ Rights Police won’t do but will occur if these laws are passed.

Details will be given closer to the day – mark yourself attending on the facebook event page to be kept in the loop.

We will also be on hand to answer questions about your rights. Please come and talk to us- once we’ve got our policeman hats off, of course.

Please send an email or letter to one or all of the below concerned members. Outline your concerns about these laws and why you want them to oppose these laws.

(If you don’t have time to write your own email, there is a draft letter in the “Voice Your Views” section).

Michael Mischin
Liberal: North Metropolitan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney General; Minister for Corrective Services
michael.mischin@mp.wa.gov.au
PO Box 3044
Joondalup WA 6027

Mia Davies
Nationals: Agricultural Region
mia.davies@mp.wa.gov.au
Level 1
8 Parliament Place
West Perth WA 6005

Phillip Gardiner
Nationals: Agricultural Region
(No email provided)
PO Box 392
Moora WA 6510

Helen Morton
Liberal: East Metropolitan Region
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer; Commerce; Science and Innovation; Housing and Works; Water; Mental Health
helen.morton@mp.wa.gov.au
Unit 2
201-205 Burslem Drive
Maddington WA 6109

Nick Goiran
Liberal: South Metropolitan Region
nick.goiran@mp.wa.gov.au
Unit 2, 714 Ranford Road
Southern River WA 6110

On Tuesday 20 April, Rally For Your Rights took place outside Parliament House. Rob Johnson (Police Minister), Margaret Quirk MLA (Opposition Police Spokesman), Dr Indermaur (Crime Research Centre) and Giz Watson MLC (Greens) addressed the crowd, and the rally attracted some media attention.

Watch the ABC News report above, and please send any photos or videos from the big day! searchforyourrights@gmail.com

Update: See Mike Ballard’s video and blog post of the rally here!

The stronger the turnout the greater the chance we can make a difference, so please come down and say NO to stop and search!

View Larger Map

FROM UWA:
Catch 102 bus from Mounts Bay Rd after Hackett Drive at 12:13pm
Get off at Mounts Bay Rd after Cliff St approx 12:21pm
Walk to Parliament House: up Cliff St, right on Malcolm St, then first left up Harvest Tce arrive 12:30.

FROM MURDOCH:
Catch 503 Bus from South St before Murdoch Drive at 11:41am to Murdoch Station
Catch the 11:52am train from Murdoch Station to Perth Underground station.
Catch Red Cat bus from the Perth Underground Station at 12:15pm.
Get off at Hay St Parliament stop, walk up Harvest Tce.

FROM CURTIN:
Catch 100 bus from Kent St after Beasley Av at 11:42am to Canning Bridge Station.
Catch 158 bus at 12:05pm to St Georges Tce.
Catch 103 bus from St Georges Tce Stands R & S at 12:22pm.
Get off at Malcolm St after Mitchell Fwy. Walk down Malcolm St, take first right onto Harvest Tce (5 minute walk)

FROM ECU MOUNT LAWLEY:
Catch 887 bus from Alexander Dr after Bradford St at 11:45am to Wellington St bus Station
Catch Red Cat bus from bus station at 12:15pm to Hay St Parliament House
Walk up Harvest Tce.

FROM ECU JOONDALUP:
Catch 465 bus from Joondalup Drive ECU at 11:20am to Joondalup station
Catch 11:39am train to Esplanade Station
Catch Red Cat bus from Esplanade station at 12:15pm
Get off Hay St Parliament House, walk up Harvest Tce.

RALLY FOR YOUR RIGHTS! THIS TUESDAY! 12.30 AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE!

• Do you support the push for stop and search powers for WA police?
• Do you think Police Minister Rob Johnson should be replaced?
• Do you trust WA Police?

Download the survey here, complete and send it in to voice your views on law and order in WA.

When: Monday March 29, 6pm.

Where: Perth Soccer Club (3 Lawley St, West Perth WA 6005)

Update: The speakers have been confirmed:

Hylton Quail – President, Law Society of Western Australia

Matt Keogh – Convenor, WA Labor Law Public Administration & Community Safety Policy Committee

Alex Cassie – Convenor, Search For Your Rights Movement

Cameron Barns – President, WA Young Labor

Joe Hockey used a speech to the Grattan Institute in Melbourne last night to take aim at state governments trying to crack down on crime by granting police the power to conduct random searches.

“Surely Australian interpretation of liberty extends to the right of an individual to go about their daily business without being subject to a random body search by police,” he said.

“The police do not have to declare a reason for the body search. In my view this goes too far.”

A spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Tom Percy QC, says WA should drop the proposed laws in wake of the criticism.

Mr Percy says the Police Minister Rob Johnson should reconsider a push to introduce the laws.

“Anyone who knows anything about law and order, crime and punishment realises that harsher measures and increased police measures are not the answer.”

“I think Rob Johnson really needs to discover that there is no linear relationship between harsher measures and increased police powers and reducing crime.”

The Police Minister has dismissed criticism of the state’s proposed stop and search powers.

Rob Johnson says Mr Hockey has no idea of the problems confronting police in Western Australia.

“It’s very easy for some of the federal politicians, especially from the leafy western suburbs of Sydney to stand up and espouse their values and their thoughts but at the end of the day it is the authority of the state to bring in legislation that they believe will care for the safety of their citizens.”

From ABC News, click here for the original.

Service in the counter terrorist squadron of the SAS Regiment and two operational deployments to Iraq as a navy diver etched in my brain for ever the need to plan for success. The alternative invariably meant casualties or loss of life.

So when I look at what we as a community are doing in the field of corrective services, I can’t help but ask: why do we keep planning to fail?

Politicians from both sides of WA politics have for over a decade claimed they are the “toughest” on crime. The result, according to Chief Justice Wayne Martin, has been a long and steady growth in the number of people in our prisons – a 49 per cent increase from June 200l to November 2009. Alarmingly, that steady growth has exploded in recent times.

Since the Liberal-Nationals Government took office 18 months ago, the size of the prison muster has soared 23 per cent. Inspector of`Custodial Services Professor Neil Morgan puts the cost of each additional prisoner at $100,000 a year. This means the extra 953 prisoners who have entered the system in the last 18 months increased the cost of prisons by more than $95 million a year. If nothing changes, the Government will direct close to a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money each year to corrective services by the next State election in 2013. That’s about the same as we now spend on police. It’s three times what we give to child protection and five times what mental health gets each year.

Most reasonable people are inclined to say it is money well spent. After all, dangerous criminals should be punished and kept away from the rest of us. I agree, but our justice net seems to catch many who aren’t dangerous.

The Chief Justice says: “If there are any general characteristics of the recent prison intake in WA, they include psychiatric disability, economic disadvantage (evidenced through an inability to pay fines), Aboriginality and offending at the lower end of the spectrum.”

Any prison officer will tell you our prisons hold plenty of minor offenders who were victims of child abuse and or neglect. Many also suffer from some level of mental illness. Robbing portfolios that might prevent people committing crime, so that we can fund building prisons to warehouse those same people after they offend, challenges my military sense of logic. Is incarcerating these people the best use of taxpayers’ money?

Elsewhere in the world, authorities are asking the same question. A British House of Commons justice committee report in January stated: “Our evidence suggests that prison is a relatively ineffective way of reducing crime for other than serious offenders who need to be physically contained for the protection of the public.”

The US locks up more of its population than most other nations but many of the toughest States have changed their approach in recent years.

A New York Times editorial on May 11 last year discussed evidence given to Congress about new prison sentencing. Some of the reasons for change have an eerily familiar ring. “State officials said that after studying the problem (massive increases in muster) they found their prison populations were being driven up, not by crime, but mainly by breakdowns in their parole and probation systems. Simply put, they were sending too many people back to jail. Many were drug-addicted or mentally ill offenders who could be safely dealt with in community programs.”

When it comes to tough on crime, Texas has long prided itself on being as tough as it gets. According to the US Council of State Governments Justice Centre, Texas was confronted with an impending prison overcrowding crisis in 2007. Politicians had to decide whether spending $523 million to build and operate additional prisons was the best way to increase public safety and reduce reoffending. In the end, they decided there was a better way.

They chose Justice Reinvestment, a four-step process that resulted in big net savings to the State. Firstly, they got specialists to provide geographic analyses of the prison population which identified communities contributing the most offenders to prison. Then, in each hotspot they sought options to generate savings and increase public safety, such as beefed-up parole supervision, more supervised accommodation for parolees and intensive in-prison substance abuse treatment.

The third step quantified savings and then reinvested some of that money into select high-stakes communities. In effect, they shifted money from the back end and put it into the communities where prison costs were being generated. The last step was measuring the impact.

The most electrifying thing about Justice Reinvestment is the savings achieved. Over 2008-09, the State saved $210.5 million on its prison budget. It’s got the attention of the British Parliament. The House of Commons Justice Committee’s report decided “Justice Reinvestment approaches – which channel resources on a geographically targeted basis to reduce the crimes which bring people into the criminal justice system and into prison in particular – offer potential solutions …”

Justice Reinvestment may hold the solution for WA. Reducing crime, fixing broken communities and diverting non-threatening people from prison seems worth considering. It can’t possibly be worse than planning for more guaranteed failure.

Paul Papalia is a Labor MLA and shadow minister for corrective services.

This article originally published in the West Australian, 20/03/2010, republished here with the author’s permission.