Western Australia Police

As is common across the public sector, the UK police service is under pressure to do more with less, to target resources more efficiently and take steps to identify threats proactively; for example under risk-assessment schemes such as ‘Clare’s Law’ and ‘Sarah’s Law’. Algorithmic tools promise to improve a police force’s decision-making and prediction abilities by making better use of data (including intelligence), both from inside and outside the force. This article uses Durham Constabulary’s Harm Assessment Risk Tool (HART) as a case-study. HART is one of the first algorithmic models to be deployed by a UK police force in an operational capacity. Our article comments upon the potential benefits of such tools, explains the concept and method of HART and considers the results of the first validation of the model’s use and accuracy. The article then critiques the use of algorithmic tools within policing from a societal and legal perspective, focusing in particular upon substantive common law grounds for judicial review. It considers a concept of ‘experimental’ proportionality to permit the use of unproven algorithms in the public sector in a controlled and time-limited way, and as part of a combination of approaches to combat algorithmic opacity, proposes ‘ALGO-CARE’, a guidance framework of some of the key legal and practical concerns that should be considered in relation to the use of algorithmic risk assessment tools by the police. The article concludes that for the use of algorithmic tools in a policing context to result in a ‘better’ outcome, that is to say, a more efficient use of police resources in a landscape of more consistent, evidence-based decision-making, then an ‘experimental’ proportionality approach should be developed to ensure that new solutions from ‘big data’ can be found for criminal justice problems traditionally arising from clouded, non-augmented decision-making. Finally, this article notes that there is a sub-set of decisions around which there is too great an impact upon society and upon the welfare of individuals for them to be influenced by an emerging technology; to an extent, in fact, that they should be removed from the influence of algorithmic decision-making altogether.

The purpose of this study was to assess the magnitude of upper and lower body strength changes in highly trained professional rugby union players after 2 years of training. An additional purpose was to examine if the changes in strength were influenced by the starting strength level, lean mass index (LMI), or chronological age. This longitudinal investigation tracked maximal strength and body composition over 3 consecutive years in 20 professional rugby union athletes. Maximal strength in the bench press and back squat and body composition was assessed during preseason resistance training sessions each year. The athletes completed a very rigorous training program throughout the duration of this study consisting of numerous resistance, conditioning and skills training sessions every week. The primary findings of this study were as follows: (a) Maximal upper and lower body strength was increased by 6.5-11.5% after 2 years of training (p = 0.000-0.002 for bench press; p = 0.277-0.165 for squat); (b) magnitude of the improvement was negatively associated with initial strength level (r = -0.569 to -0.712, p ≤ 0.05); (c) magnitude of improvement in lower body maximal strength was positively related to the change in LMI (an indicator of hypertrophy; r = 0.692-0.880, p ≤ 0.05); and (d) magnitude of improvement was not associated with the age of professional rugby union athletes (r = -0.068 to -0.345). It appears particularly important for training programs to be designed for continued muscle hypertrophy in highly trained athletes. Even in professional rugby union athletes, this must be achieved in the face of high volumes of aerobic and skills training if strength is to be increased.

This paper describes an exploratory longitudinal study with semi-autonomous work groups in a large, unionized heavy engineering workshop. The results show that groups which adopted the new set of work arrangements reported substantially different perceptual, behavioral, and affective responses to those groups which continued to employ more traditional work practices. These findings and their implications for similar work sites are discussed.

A longitudinal field experiment was conducted to examine a participative scheme for measuring productivity and some of the system outcomes. In addition to evaluating the robustness of the participative monitoring system, the impact of extrinsic feedback on participation, role indices, motivation, productivity, and job satisfaction was assessed. It was reported by subjects of 76 geographically-dispersed maintenance groups of a State railway that extraneous feedback had a significant influence on role ambiguity, motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity, and a number of the variable causal paths. However, contrary to predictions, which were based mainly on correlational research, substantially lower role stress levels were not encountered after the participative scheme was installed. The results are discussed.

The climate crisis has detrimental impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Psychological effects include feelings of fear, overwhelm, worry, distress, hopelessness and anger; PTSD; depression; anxiety; phobias; panic disorder; sleep disturbances; attachment disorders; learning difficulties; substance abuse; shock and trauma symptoms; adjustment problems; behavioural problems; and, suicidal thinking. First Nations' children and young people are particularly at risk due to loss of place, identity, culture, land and customs informed by kinship relationships with the Earth; while sustainable land use practices and connection to Country and community can enhance climate resilience. In Western Australia (WA), some young people engage in climate activism - including striking from school - to demand government action to address the causes of climate change, including colonisation and capitalism. Climate activism can promote resilience, particularly when children and young people can emotionally engage in the climate crisis; when mental health is systemically supported; when climate communication is transparent and comprehensive; and, when activism is informed by the knowledges and wisdoms of First Nations peoples and grounded on Country. This article is co-authored by WA young people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal academics, activists and practitioners engaged in youth, mental health and climate justice spaces. We argue for structural change to address the causes of the climate crisis, alongside enhanced evidence and approaches to appropriately support the mental health of children and young people. Furthermore, we support the call of Aboriginal peoples to ensure culturally appropriate, place-based responses based in caring for Country.

Restorative home-care services, or re-ablement home-care services as they are now known in the UK, aim to assist older individuals who are experiencing difficulties in everyday living to optimise their functioning and reduce their need for ongoing home care. Until recently, the effectiveness of restorative home-care services had only been investigated in terms of singular outcomes such as length of home-care episode, admission to hospital and quality of life. This paper reports on a more complex and perhaps more significant measure--the use and cost of the home-care and healthcare services received over the 2-year period following service commencement. Seven hundred and fifty older individuals referred for government-funded home care were randomly assigned to a restorative or standard service between June 2005 and August 2007. Health and aged care service data were sourced and linked via the Western Australian Data Linkage System. Restorative clients used fewer home-care hours (mean [SD], 117.3 [129.4] vs. 191.2 [230.4]), had lower total home-care costs (AU$5570 vs. AU$8541) and were less likely to be approved for a higher level of aged care (N [%], 171 [55.2] vs. 249 [63.0]) during follow-up. They were also less likely to have presented at an emergency department (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.50-0.94) or have had an unplanned hospital admission [OR (95% CI), 0.69 (0.50-0.95)]. Additionally, the aggregated health and home-care costs of the restorative clients were lower by a factor of 0.83 (95% CI 0.72-0.96) over the 2-year follow-up (AU$19,090 vs. AU$23,428). These results indicate that at a time when Australia is facing the challenges of population ageing and an expected increase in demand for health and aged care services, the provision of a restorative service when an older person is referred for home care is potentially a more cost-effective option than providing conventional home care.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between regular game-related caffeine consumption on sleep after an evening Super Rugby game. METHODS: Twenty elite rugby union players wore a wrist-activity monitor to measure sleep for three days before, three days after and on the night of an evening Super Rugby game (19:00-21:00). Players ingested caffeine as they would normally (i.e. before and sometimes during a game) and saliva samples were collected before (17:00) and after (21:30) the game for caffeine concentration. RESULTS: Compared to the nights leading up to the game, on the night of the game, players went to bed 3 h later (23:08 ± 66 min vs 02:11 ± 114 min; p < .001) and had 1:30 hh:mm less sleep (5:54 ± 2:59 vs 8:02 ± 1:24 hh:mm; p < .05) and four players did not sleep after the game. Post-game caffeine saliva concentrations were greater than pre-game levels in 17 players (Pre-game 0.40 µg/mL vs Post-game 2.77 µg/mL; p < .001). The increase in caffeine saliva concentrations was moderately associated with an increase in sleep latency (p < .05), a decrease in sleep efficiency (p < .05), and a trend for a decrease in sleep duration (p = .06) on game night. CONCLUSION: Caffeine consumption before a Super Rugby game markedly increases post-game saliva caffeine levels. This may contribute to the observed 3.5 h delay in time at sleep onset and the 1.5 h reduction in sleep duration on the night of the game. This study highlights the need for a strategic approach to the use of caffeine within a Super Rugby team considering the potential effect on post-game sleep.

We have developed a wavelet version of Forsyth's coherence method for estimating the effective elastic thickness ( T e ) of the lithosphere from gravity and topography. We have previously shown that the ‘fan’ wavelet is particularly well suited to making localised coherence estimates and here we progress the method by showing how the coherence can be modelled by using the wavelet transforms of gravity and topography to infer the initial loads that flex the plate. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated on synthetic data from a model having a rectangular area of large T e embedded in a uniform low T e surrounding, and a load ratio that increases with wave number. The results for the Australia region show a ‘core’ of high T e under north and central Australia, with much lower values to the east and also, unexpectedly, under the western parts of the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons.

Many studies over the past two decades have demonstrated that employees with low levels of organizational commitment (OC) tend to be less effective. Recent research has suggested that the OC levels of police officers in Australia and New Zealand are lower that the OC levels of police in other countries. In addition, more experienced officers (especially sergeants) have lower levels of OC than less experienced officers. Reports the results of a survey of Australian police officers’ views on improving commitment to the police organization. Overall, the officers suggested that OC could be enhanced if they received more support and encouragement from senior officers. Significantly, the supervisors in the sample were more likely to identify problems with the structure and processes of the organization, whereas nonsupervisors tended to identify personal issues. A major implication of these findings is that training and information programs for supervisors need to be revised and reinforced.

Abstract Flow simulations of ephemeral rivers are often highly uncertain. Therefore, error models that can reliably quantify predictive uncertainty are particularly important. Existing error models are incapable of producing predictive distributions that contain &gt;50% zeros, making them unsuitable for use in highly ephemeral rivers. We propose a new method to produce reliable predictions in highly ephemeral rivers. The method uses data censoring of observed and simulated flow to estimate model parameters by maximum likelihood. Predictive uncertainty is conditioned on the simulation in such a way that it can generate &gt;50% zeros. Our method allows the setting of a censoring threshold above zero. Many conceptual hydrological models can only approach, but never equal, zero. For these hydrological models, we show that setting a censoring threshold slightly above zero is required to produce reliable predictive distributions in highly ephemeral catchments. Our new method allows reliable predictions to be generated even in highly ephemeral catchments.

This research examined the skills and abilities required of officers to effectively manage situations where the use of force may be required. The research also considered the nature of training required to facilitate the development of these skills/abilities. Seventy Western Australia Police officers participated in focus groups. Identified skills/abilities fell into seven categories: Aware, Assess, Approach, Act, Automatic, Appraise and Adapt. With regard to developing proficiency in these skills, officers emphasised the importance of relevant, applied and dynamic training, debriefing and the use of scenarios/role plays. The research highlights the need to change the scope of annual refresher training from the appropriate and effective application of force to the effective management of situations in which the use of force may be required, in their entirety. Findings also highlight the need to change the focus of training from performance and assessment to continued skill development (i.e. practice and learning).

A "crisis" in health care is "the point in the course of a disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death". The daunting challenges faced by clinicians when confronted with a crisis are illustrated by a tragic case in which a teenage boy died after a minor surgical procedure. Crises are challenging for reasons which include: presentation with non-specific signs or symptoms, interaction of complex factors, progressive evolution, new situations, "revenge effects", inadequate assistance, and time constraints. In crises, clinicians often experience anxiety- and overload-induced performance degradation, tend to use "frequency gambling", run out of "rules" and have to work from first principles, and are prone to "confirmation bias". The effective management of crises requires formal training, usually simulator-based, and ideally in the inter-professional groups who will need to function as a team. "COVER ABCD-A SWIFT CHECK" is a pre-compiled algorithm which can be applied quickly and effectively to facilitate a systematic and effective response to the wide range of potentially lethal problems which may occur suddenly in anaesthesia. A set of 25 articles describing additional pre-compiled responses collated into a manual for the management of any crisis under anaesthesia has been published electronically as companion papers to this article. This approach to crisis management should be applied to other areas of clinical medicine as well as anaesthesia.

Does the severity or frequency of intimate partner violence or abuse reported to police increase over time, once a unique perpetrator-victim couple has come into contact with police in Thames Valley, UK? A total of 140,998 recent (non-historical) incidents of intimate partner violence or abuse reported to Thames Valley Police in 2010–2015 were identified, with 52,296 unique perpetrators for whom a standard 731-day observation period was possible after each perpetrator’s first incident was reported in the intake period from 1 January 2010 through 31 December. Duplicate entries were eliminated and standard eligibility criteria were assured by data cleaning from the NICHE records management system of Thames Valley Police. All non-crime incidents or reports of crime against intimate partners were coded by the Cambridge Crime Harm Index (CHI) with the sum of total days of recommended imprisonment for each offence (as the guideline starting point for sentencing) summed across all offences for each offender (Sherman et al. in Policing, 10(3), 171–183, 2016), with CHI scores for each successive incident plotted in sequence. Prevalence and frequency of repeat police contacts were also computed for each perpetrator, as well as the conditional probability of each new offence given the number of prior offences. Most perpetrators identified in the 52,296 initial reports (77.6%) had no report of crime after the initial report. A further 21.2% had crime harm totals of less than 10 days of recommended prison time, with only 893 (1.7%) of the total universe of 4 years’ worth of perpetrators who had a reported crime harm total over offences with a recommendation of over 10 days sentencing in the 731-day observation period. A slightly larger ‘power few’ of 3% of perpetrators accounted for 90% of total intimate partner abuse crime harm inflicted by all perpetrators, while 97% of perpetrators produced only 10% of total crime harm. Overall, amongst the few who had numerous repeat incidents, there was increasing frequency but no evidence of increasing seriousness of harm caused to victims. The 100 most harmful offenders in 2010 maintained a high (but greatly decreased) level of harm in 2011, but on average were very low harm offenders in 2012–2015. This analysis suggests that the intimate partner abuser population is highly segmented in Thames Valley, with a small power few inflicting most of the harm. While the most serious offenders may remain difficult to identify prospectively, any valid prediction model could help to prevent a substantial amount of crime harm against intimate partners. Investing in such prediction methods may do more to help victims than an undifferentiated strategy putting most resources into low-risk cases.

Harm associated with consumption of alcohol on licensed premises is an issue of community concern. Interventions to reinforce responsible sale of alcohol such as server training and accords between licensees, police and health advocates are well known. However, while generally supported by police and licensees as 'a good thing', evaluations demonstrating that they reduce alcohol-related harm are rare. Lack of enforcement is often an issue. This paper reports on system intervention to enhance police enforcement of liquor laws by providing data-based feedback to police and licensees about alcohol-related crime following drinking on specific licensed premises. The system has been shown to contribute to a reduction of alcohol-related crime and has been adopted into routine practice by NSW police state-wide. It is a good example of how research can be conducted in a way that bridges the gap between policy research and policy practice.

This study examined the generality of Komaki's operant model of supervision (Komaki, 1986; Komaki, Zlotnik &amp; Jensen 1986; Komaki, Desselles &amp; Bowman, 1989) in an organizational setting characterized by a formal chain of command. Ratings of subordinate performance were used to index supervisory effectiveness. Using the Operant Supervisory Taxonomy and Index, measures of supervisory behaviour were obtained from 20 police patrol sergeants over a period of several months. Compared with supervisors in other settings, police sergeants spent less time providing antecedents (i.e. instructions, rules, goals) and consequences (i.e. feedback), and more time monitoring subordinates' performance. Sergeants of higher performing teams spent more time monitoring performance and providing neutral performance consequences. In contrast with earlier findings, monitoring via work sampling was not related to subordinate performance. Performance was, however, related to the time supervisors spent soliciting self‐reports from subordinates, and the time they allocated to those solitary activities which provided more opportunities for monitoring subordinates' performance. The findings were consistent with Komaki et al. 's (1986) operant conceptualization of how supervisors motivate their subordinates.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleep disorders in an elite rugby union team using in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) and sleep questionnaires. Twenty-five elite rugby union players underwent a night of PSG during the "off-season" of the Super Rugby competition to assess their sleep. Of interest were measurements that detected the presence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; apnea-hypopnea index ≥5 events/hr) and the presence of moderate-severe periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMs; ≥15 events/hr). Players completed sleep-related questionnaires to assess daytime sleepiness, perception of insomnia, risk of OSA, and the presence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and underwent basic anthropometric assessments including body mass index and neck circumference. OSA was present in 24% (n=6) of players and PLMs ≥15 events/hr in 12% (n=3). Questionnaire responses showed that all players had insomnia defined subthreshold insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness, two players were identified as being at risk for OSA and none were classified as having RLS. In conclusion, sleep disorders and excessive sleepiness are common in elite rugby union players. A process to identify and manage sleep disorders should be considered by teams to optimise their physical recovery, athletic performance and to safeguard their health.

Abstract Symptoms of mental illness can increase the risk of disturbed behaviour. Joint intervention between police and mental health services is therefore sometimes needed to manage crisis events safely, and to divert people with a mental illness from further criminal justice system contact. This study explored how crisis mental health clinicians and police officers experience the service interface to identify perceived challenges tocollaboration and possible solutions. This was explored through circulation of a developed questionnaire to staff of the Crisis Assessment Team of Alfred Psychiatry and police officers from three Melbourne police stations. In addition to identifying the high frequency of contact between interfacing services, a number of challenges to effective interface were identified. These included: inefficient communication before or following a joint event; difficulty accessing support from the interfacing service and delays in handing over care in hospital emergency departments; and staff occasionally not respecting the professional abilities of staff from interfacing services. Key words: collaborationcrisis mental healthpoliceservice improvements Acknowledgements We would like to thank all the police officers and mental health staff who shared their experiences and perceptions about the interface between services that will hopefully help in delivering more effective collaborative for people living with mental illness. No external funding was received for the conduct of this project.

Do shorter but more frequent patrol visits to the same crime hot spots reduce daily crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) totals more effectively than less frequent but longer patrols, if the total time that police are present each day is held roughly constant? GPS measures from patrol officer body-worn radios tracked the time each officer spent within seven geo-fenced crime “hot spots” of 150 × 150 m, summing the number of both individual officer-minutes and patrol-minutes (with one or more officers present simultaneously) per day per hot spot, as well as number of visits and minutes per visit. Activity reports were used to detect the simultaneous presence of more than one officer, yielding the key independent variables of number and length of patrol visits in which one or more police officers were present. The dependent variable was total reports of crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) identified within the hot spot boundaries each day of the experiment. All seven hot spots of crime and ASB were randomly allocated each day to one of two patrol duration conditions for a period of 100 days (43 “short” visit days and 57 “long” visit days) between June and November 2015, with patrol time measures reported back to officers on the number and length of patrols conducted daily. The long visit model required three visits daily of 15 min duration each; the short visit model required nine visits daily of 5 min each. On all days, a target of 45 min of total patrol time was required. Actual patrol delivery measured by GPS and activity reports produced a mean of just over 24 patrol-minutes (of one or more officers present) on “long” days and just under 26 min on “short” days, so that dosage was approximately held constant to test the independent effect of more or fewer visits. The treatment as delivered on “long” days was a mean of 2.5 visits averaging 9.6 min each; on “short” days, the same officers delivered a mean of 5 visits averaging 5.2 min each. The less-frequent long visit model was more effective than the more-frequent short visit model, with mean counts of crime and ASB incidents 19.51% lower on long visit days =0.697 incidents per day compared to 0.561 incidents per day on short visit days (d = −0.175; p = 0.018). Controlling for the total patrol time spent at a hot spot each day, the difference between 2.5 longer visits and 5 shorter visits causes about 20% less crime when longer visits are delivered. These findings of the deterrent effect of increasing patrol visit length by 85% are consistent with Koper’s (1995) correlational observation that longer units of 10–15 min duration appeared optimal in creating a residual deterrent effect at a hot spot immediately after police leave the vicinity. Although this study cannot distinguish between crime reductions immediately after vs. long after police have left the scene, this is the first experiment to randomly assign a substantial difference (twice as many) in the number of visits daily to a hot spot, with almost twice as much time per visit when fewer visits are made. The use of random assignment of two different patrol models with the same total time in the same seven geographic units gives great confidence that using that time in fewer visits of longer duration causes less crime and anti-social behaviour than more visits of shorter duration.

In team sports, tactical periodisation refers to the planned manipulation of training loads with the aim of prioritising athlete readiness for matches of greatest importance. Although monitoring of athletes' physical condition is often used to inform this planning, the direct influence of external factors on match difficulty has not been well quantified. In this study, a 'match difficulty index' (MDI) for use in Super Rugby was developed, based on the influence imparted by five external factors on previous match outcomes. Specifically, information relating to match location, days break between matches, time-zone change and opposition ladder position (both current and previous year) were collected for matches played during the 2011-2013 Super Rugby seasons. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the importance of each of these factors with respect to match outcome (win/loss), with opposition ladder position and match location (home, domestic away or international) exerting the greatest influence on match difficulty. Three separate cross-validated models were constructed, with match outcome classification performance reported as 66.2%, 65.5% and 63.7% respectively. The three MDI models emanating from this study can each be used to inform tactical periodisation program design both prior to and during the regular season.

Graffiti is often viewed as a nuisance ‘kids’ crime, an act of youthful resistance and, as such, it is sometimes given a lower policing prioritisation level than more ‘serious’ crimes. In this study, the three-year offending histories of 798 graffitists were extracted from the Western Australian Police Information Management System database. To address the study's aim of determining whether age-differentiated patterns of offending exist among three age-cohorts of offenders (i.e. preteens, adolescents and adults), the number of offences, the number of contacts with police, the type of offences and the rank category of each offence for each of the three age-cohort were calculated. The findings reveal that while 96 graffiti offenders had only one recorded graffiti offence, the majority of graffitists (n=702) were recidivist offenders involved in multiple crimes. The most prevalent crime among the recidivist preteen and early adolescent cohort of graffiti offenders was burglary; however, the recidivist late-adolescent and adult cohorts of graffiti offenders committed more violent and drug-related crimes.