The ABC understands phone black spots have contributed to the WA Government's inability to roll out a key domestic violence policy in the state's regions. On Tuesday the ABC revealed the Department of Justice told a court it was 'not feasible' to provide GPS monitoring of serial family violence offenders in regional areas.
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00:00It was one of the state government's flagship policies to help address the scourge of domestic violence.
00:08Today is the day we stand up for those innocent people in our community, many of whom have suffered in silence for too long.
00:16Since December last year, anyone who's accused or convicted of a further domestic violence offence while on a restraining order,
00:23or after being declared a serial family violence offender, has been required to be fitted with a GPS tracking device if they're given bail.
00:31But on Tuesday it emerged the Department of Justice had told a Bunbury court it was not feasible to provide that monitoring in regional areas,
00:39but didn't explain to the court why.
00:41Now the ABC has learned stakeholders understand part of the problem is that tracking devices rely on a connection to a mobile network which isn't always available in regional WA.
00:52This is a map of all the mobile phone towers across the state and it's the black spots in between that make tracking those serial offenders much harder.
01:01If the courts cannot make an arrangement whereby an accused serial domestic violence offender cannot be properly monitored, they need to be put behind bars.
01:13The concern though is where there are people who the courts would have previously felt comfortable granting bail to,
01:18who will now be reminded in prison only because the government can't meet a mandatory criteria it's imposed.
01:25It's unclear what portion of family and domestic violence cases this will affect,
01:29but WA police crime statistics show last year about 46% of police reports classed as either serious family assault or threatening behaviour were recorded as occurring in regional WA.
01:41It's also not clear how many of those alleged offences were proven in court or even taken to trial.
01:47The Department of Justice said in a statement the safety of regional communities is of paramount importance
01:52and they wouldn't support the release of an offender where they pose an unacceptable risk to the community.
01:58They say all offenders subject to monitoring including in the regions are monitored 24-7 by staff working alongside police.