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Police spending is up 20% in real terms, but frontline sworn officers per person have fallen, while sworn officers outside frontline roles roughly doubled. Court backlogs are at record levels, and youth detention now costs $4,184 a day per child, triple 2016-17.

Sources: Productivity Commission ROGS 2026: Section 6 Police, Section 7 Courts, Section 8 Corrective services and Section 17 Youth justice; WA Government media statements. ROGS dollar figures are real 2024-25 dollars (inflation-adjusted).

Findings

1. More police money, fewer frontline sworn officers per person

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Real recurrent police spending went from $1,814.6m (2016-17) to $2,184.2m (2024-25), up 20% (2024-25 dollars; ROGS 6A.1).
  • Fact: Operational sworn officers went from 5,949 to 6,489 (+9%), but per 100,000 people fell from 232 to 216 (ROGS 6A.2). ROGS defines operational staff as general duties officers, investigators, traffic, tactical, station counter, communications, crime scene and prosecution staff (ROGS 2026 Police services, Staffing).
  • Fact: Non-operational sworn officers (sworn police not in those roles) went from 277 (2016-17) to 616 (2024-25). Most of the jump came in one year, 317 (2019-20) to 607 (2020-21), and it has stayed around 520–674 since (ROGS 6A.2, WA column). ROGS's only WA footnote on 6A.2 covers Road Safety Commission staff being included from 2017-18. It does not explain the 2020-21 step (ROGS 2026 data tables, Table 6A.2 notes).
  • Our read: About 300 more sworn officers sit outside the frontline categories than before 2020-21. Non-operational sworn officers roughly doubled, mostly in 2020-21. That could be a real shift or a change in how WA Police coded roles, and WA Police should explain it.

2. Crime: property crime is down, violence is up

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Victims of recorded crime per 100,000 people (ROGS 6A.19–6A.21):

  • Fact: Home burglary (unlawful entry with intent, both categories combined): 1,459 (2016) to 560 (2024), −62%. Combined because ROGS notes WA's "involving the taking of property" category is understated before 2022 and "other" is overstated. Motor vehicle theft: 327 to 191 (−42%). Other theft: 3,451 to 2,763 (−20%).
  • Fact: Sexual assault: 105 (2017) to 126 (2024), +20%. 2017 is used as the base because ROGS warns WA sexual assault data "is understated prior to 2017". Family and domestic violence assault: 810 (2016) to 1,023 (2024), +26%.
  • Our read: Property crime is well down, as it is nationally. Recorded violence, especially in the home, is up. Some of the rise may be due to more reporting.

3. Court backlogs at record levels

Updated 13 Oct 2026

Pending criminal cases at 30 June, 2016-17 vs 2024-25 (ROGS 7A.20):

  • Fact: Magistrates Court: 14,415 → 22,733 (+58%); cases older than 12 months 1,714 → 2,760.
  • Fact: District Court: 1,805 → 2,408 (+33%); older than 12 months 188 → 712 (3.8×); older than 24 months 21 → 216 (10×).
  • Fact: Children's Court: 1,116 → 1,867 (+67%).
  • Our read: Ten times as many District Court criminal cases (the serious ones) have been waiting more than two years. That means accused people on remand, victims waiting, and witnesses' memories fading.

4. Banksia Hill and youth detention: half the kids, three times the cost per child

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Average daily young people in detention-based services: 146 (2016-17) → 75 (2024-25). Real cost per young person per day: $1,307 → $4,184 (+220%), now above the national $3,635 (ROGS 17A.20).
  • Our read: That is about $1.53m per detained young person per year. Detention numbers roughly halved while the cost per child tripled.
  • Fact: Media statements include "Plan in place to improve safety and welfare at Banksia Hill" (22 Jun 2023) and an $11.5m new youth facility adjoining Banksia Hill (26 Sep 2024): WA Government

4b. What the Inspector found inside Banksia Hill and Unit 18

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: The February 2023 inspection found young people averaging 7.5 hours out of cell at Banksia Hill and 3.3 hours at Unit 18 (an adult prison unit gazetted for youth). Some spent whole weekends in cell when staff were short. OICS said the extended lockdowns contravened the Young Offenders Act and UN rules (OICS submission to Senate inquiry, Oct 2024).
  • Fact: Out-of-cell time averaged just 4 hours in May 2023, rising to 9 hours 22 minutes by June 2024 after custodial staffing was rebuilt. OICS was "concerned by the slow progress" on the underlying staffing model. Physical works were mostly security hardening, and "clear plans for the closure of Unit 18 are yet to emerge despite its original intent as a temporary facility" (OICS, Review of Youth Custody: Follow-up to 2023 Inspection, Part 2, Nov 2024).
  • Fact: OICS warned the youth population numbers looked "artificially low", and that any rise or another critical incident could send the system "spiralling deeply back into the crises" (same report, Conclusion).
  • Our read: Read with finding 4: the $4,184-a-day cost buys a system the Inspector still calls fragile, with a "temporary" unit inside an adult maximum-security prison open since July 2022 and still running.

5. Adult prisons: highest imprisonment, full jails

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Crude imprisonment rate per 100,000 adults: 338 (2017-18) → 343 (2024-25), against a national rate of 217 → 211. WA is 63% above the national rate (ROGS 8A.5).
  • Fact: Prison capacity utilisation rose from 90.1% (2023-24) to 97.3% (2024-25). The daily average was 7,242 prisoners (ROGS 8A.15, 8A.4).
  • Fact: Real net operating cost per prisoner per day: $296.73 (2016-17) → $301.09 (2024-25), flat in real terms and now below the national $326.43 (ROGS 8A.20).
  • Our read: Adult prisons are not the cost blowout. Youth detention is, and the adult system is almost full.