New figures reveal thousands of fugitives have been on the run from WA Police for more than ten years

Thousands of potentially dangerous fugitives have been on the run from WA Police for more than a decade, alarming new figures reveal. Data provided to Parliament shows that of the almost 6000 outstanding arrest warrants police were pursuing, more than 2300 were issued 10 years ago or more. And of those, more than 1000 were issued in 2010 or earlier. Shadow police minister Adam Hort said the longer these individuals remained on the streets, the less safe our communities were. “These aren’t parking tickets — they’re arrest warrants and nearly 6000 of them are outstanding across Western Australia,” he said. “To be issued an arrest warrant is no simple matter. These aren’t cases of someone stealing a chocolate bar. Police consider them serious enough to track down the alleged offender, drag them to the watchhouse, and bring them before the courts. “Even more alarming — almost 4000 of these warrants have been active for more than five years. That’s five years with no justice, no closure for victims, and alleged offenders still walking free.” Mr Hort said the figures were a reflection of police officers being asked to “do more with less”. “That’s why the Police Minister must act urgently to fill the growing number of police vacancies,” he said. “Without boots on the ground, warrants go unanswered, communities are left exposed, and the system fails the very people it’s meant to protect.” A police spokeswoman said every “investigative avenue” was pursued to find and apprehend individuals and bring them before a court. “People subject to outstanding arrest warrants are often no longer in Western Australia,” she said. “Where an offence is of a serious nature and the alleged offender is known to be in an interstate or international jurisdiction, and an extradition treaty exists between WA and that jurisdiction, the WA Police Force will seek to extradite that individual to bring them before the court in WA.” Speaking at the Police Academy in Joondalup this week, Police Minister Reece Whitby backed in the Government’s approach to recruitment, saying there were 1000 officers going through the facility each year. “We can’t grow the force any quicker than we are and what we’re seeing are more officers on the beat than ever before,” Mr Whitby said. “We’re seeing attrition reduce. So the amount of people leaving the force is falling, and we’re seeing the West Australian Police Force have a net growth ... it’s one of the only police forces in the country which is having net growth at the moment. “It’s a very good, positive picture in terms of people wanting to join up and stay in the course for longer.”