Peter Law: How much trust can we be expected to place in new top cop?

One of the legacies of the pandemic in this State is that the standing of WA Police in the community is at new heights.

As police commissioner, Chris Dawson was a no-nonsense, composed presence at Mark McGowan’s side for more than two years of COVID management.

The esteem in which the Premier holds Dawson was evidenced by the fact he earlier this year appointed the lifelong copper as WA’s 34th Governor.

But the consequence of McGowan’s trust in the police force extends well beyond who he chose to be the monarch’s representative.

A trend has emerged recently that is worthy of scrutiny but is in no way meant to question the integrity of Dawson’s successor as the State’s top cop, Col Blanch.

McGowan and Police Minister Paul Papalia are placing an enormous amount of trust in Blanch, who was Dawson’s deputy for three years before his recent promotion.

The first sign of this was a report in The Sunday Times two months ago that revealed police would be given powers to search suspected drug traffickers at 22 entry points into WA.

The legislation, to be introduced to Parliament late this year or early next year, is designed to replicate the impact the hard border had on the drug trade at the height of the pandemic.

Smuggling of meth into WA plummeted during this period, as did drug-fuelled crime.

Authorities finally had a weapon to help them win the war on drugs — only to then relinquish it in March when the border was no longer justified.

According to July’s report, the amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act will allow police, acting on intelligence, to conduct a preliminary search on arrivals into WA without needing a warrant.

The detail will be in the legislation, but Papalia said at the time that this could include using a “wand or dog“ to check people arriving by road, at Perth Airport or from a cruise ship.

A more thorough search could then be conducted after officers had satisfied themselves of a “reasonable suspicion” that it was required.

The Government will inevitably dismiss the legal minds who raise concerns about civil liberties and I fully expect them to roll out the line, “if you’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing to worry about”.

Given police breached public trust by using SafeWA app data for criminal investigations, forcing a change the law, I asked Blanch if his officers would only use these powers for the purposes of COVID management.

After all, the hard border was popular the first time, nobody has sympathy for drug traffickers and governments can never go too hard on crime at election time.

But there’s plenty to worry about if these new police powers go too far or are too easily open to misuse.

The unanswered questions include: what rank of cop will be authorised to give the go-ahead to these searches? How invasive will they be? What’s the threshold for “reasonable suspicion”?

Not to mention doubts about whether such border checks would contravene the Australian Constitution, which protects freedom of trade and movement across State lines.

This trend of trusting police with greater powers continued last week when legislation to end the state of emergency was rushed through Parliament’s Legislative Assembly in a single day.

Under the change, the Police Commissioner, in his role as State Emergency Coordinator, will be handed sole responsibility for making a “COVID-19 declaration”.

Such a declaration would hand Blanch’s officers the ability to “take control or use any place, vehicle or other thing for COVID-19 management purposes”.

The Bill also authorises the Commissioner to direct a person to do anything they believe “is reasonably necessary to prevent, control or abate risks associated with COVID-19”.

This broad wording triggered McGowan’s loudest (and often anonymous) critics on social media, while Liberal leader David Honey drew a link in Parliament to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

The Nationals’ Mia Davies described it as “lazy legislation” that uses the same powers that already exist in the Emergency Management Act and fails to create a framework to better manage future pandemics.

The Government’s entirely predictable defence was a mixture of faux indignation that anyone dare question the Police Commissioner’s character and supreme confidence in its handling of COVID so far.

Given police breached public trust by using SafeWA app data for criminal investigations, forcing a change to the law, I asked Blanch if his officers would only use these powers for the purposes of COVID management.

His office had this written response: “As this Bill is still before Parliament, WA Police respectfully declines to comment.”

At a press conference on Wednesday, I asked Blanch if he could guarantee the powers would only be for COVID management. He replied: “I can. That’s what they’re used for — COVID management only.”

The event was to announce the creation of Protected Entertainment Precincts, which includes giving cops the power to ban anyone who behaves in a “antisocial, offensive and threatening way” from nightspots like Northbridge and Scarborough for up to six months.

The Government knows the attempt to get thugs off the streets will have broad support — McGowan told critics to “cry me a river” — but it was another example of enormous trust being placed in Blanch just months into the job.