Prisoner area used for storage: police union

The WA Police Union has claimed the Karratha Courthouse holding area has been used more often for storage than for prisoners waiting for appearances.

WA Police Union deputy vice-president Sergeant Jon Groves said the issue was as a result of the failure of a contract between the Department of Corrective Services and detention service provider Serco.

Sgt Groves said he had once seen a boat stored in the holding area - which sits between the police station and courthouse - during a cyclone, but hardly ever prisoners.

"That whole area was built for prisoners who have been remanded in custody to be brought straight from the prison and placed in the cells… but they've never used it," he said.

"The Serco contract is so bad, what happens is they bring them from the prison and just drop them at the Karratha Police Station and then we have to look after the prisoners."

In an inquiry into custodial arrangements in police lock-ups, which was tabled in the WA Legislative Assembly on November 28, the Community Development and Justice Standing Committee reported findings of inadequacies between the Court Security and Custodial Services contract across the State with Serco.

The report found in some regional towns such as Albany, Carnarvon and Kalgoorlie, Serco also provided security at lock-ups, but didn't in other towns, such as Karratha.

The report said an extra burden had been placed on police in those towns, which didn't have the resources to cope.

Sgt Groves said contracts for individual police stations appeared to be ad hoc and had resulted in Karratha officers effectively being taken off the street from their work to "babysit prisoners" and "do someone else's job".

The Department of Corrective Services did not respond to calls from the _Pilbara News _ for comment in response to the report.