Turn rangers into police
Claremont mayor Jock Barker wants council rangers to be able to mirror police officers by having the power to arrest suspects.
Mr Barker’s suggestion came as Claremont business owners called for more police patrols after a spate of petty crime and antisocial behaviour plagued the town centre.
Store owners report drugaffected teens spitting at them and urinating on their shopfronts, attempted thefts, verbal abuse and in some cases physical assault.
“I’ve probably never seen Claremont with this many homeless and instances of aggressive behaviour,” said Toyworld owner Stephanie Finlay.
She has owned the shop near the Stirling Highway end of Bay View Terrace for more than 20 years.
She also owns the Toyworld store in Fremantle, where she and her staff have a “direct line” to the rangers.
“The police do drive past there, and it does help,” she said. “I’ve seen it first-hand.
“That’s my push for Claremont, to have a bit more police presence.”
Ms Finlay said that in the past four weeks she had dealt with three attempted shoplifting incidents, had one staff member verbally abused in the carpark, cleaned urine off the front steps, been verbally abused in the arcade near her store, had alcohol thrown at her and witnessed a physical assault between another shop owner and three would-be shoplifters.
She said Claremont rangers had been helpful but there was only so much they could do.
Mr Barker said it was his view that local government rangers should be upskilled and granted greater enforcement powers.
He said the state government should be doing more to help councils keep their communities safe.
“I’m concerned with the government’s lack of understanding of the petty crime situation in our Town,” he said.
“We are already faced with the cost of rangers, and I believe their practical skills could be upgraded to that of a police officer, which would mean retraining rangers right across the state.
“We need some innovative thinking in terms of a local police force.”
Claremont Police Station closed in 2015 and a proposed multimillion-dollar replacement on the north side of the train line never eventuated.
Wembley police station serves Claremont.
Local Government minister Hannah Beazley’s office said there were no current plans to enable local governments to create their own local police forces.
Monde’s owner, who asked not to be named, said she has had the homewares shop on the corner of Stirling Highway and Bay View Terrace, opposite the council chambers, for seven years.
It used to open for Thursday late night shopping but stopped because it had become unsafe.
“It’s really dark, no one’s around, none of the other businesses are really open, so it was just unsafe if just one of us was in here,” she said.
“I’ve got young girls who work here and sometimes they do call me after something has happened. They’re petrified.
“I don’t think it’s something that they should have to deal with – getting abuse thrown at them.”
“We are open from 9am to 5pm now and it is still quite hard at times.
“There’s a lot of people on drugs, we have displays out the front of hammocks and bean bags and they come sit on them, have a smoke, have their drinks.
“I always report theft and things like that but if they’re yelling abuse and spitting and stuff, I don’t bother, because they can’t really do anything.”
The Town spent $100,000 in 2022 to install new highdefinition CCTV cameras along St Quentin Avenue and Bay View Terrace.
Ms Finlay said she did not know about them.
“If I don’t know about them, I doubt the people who come in to steal from my shop know about them,” she said.