WA: Man charged over p[olice station attack
By Andrea Hayward and Jo Pritchard10 Dec 2008 9:20 PM
PERTH, Dec 10 AAP - West Australian police have charged a 31-year-old man over the first of two arson attacks on Perth police stations.
Placing security guards at all Perth police stations is now under consideration following the incidents at northern suburban stations.
Early on Wednesday, the cars of two police officers were torched in the compound of Warwick police station.
It followed a similar incident at the Joondalup police station on Monday night when a ute carrying a 220 litre fuel tank was backed up to the station's doors and set alight, causing extensive damage.
A man from the Perth suburb of Heathridge faces two counts of criminal damage by fire in relation to the Joondalup attack.
Another man, 27-year-old Ryan Thomas Jones, is still being sought in relation to the incident.
The front entrance of the station was gutted while a dozen police officers were still on duty.
Assistant Commissioner Nick Staltari says there is no evidence to link the two attacks at this point.
West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said police officers had been warned to be more vigilant in the wake of the attacks.
The second attack had sparked concerns among officers for their safety at work, he said.
"I'm concerned about any threat on police, obviously my first concern is for the officers, to make sure they are safe and we will be looking at security as a matter of priority," Mr O'Callaghan told reporters.
"We need to very quickly look at what can be done to make sure officers and their property is properly protected.
"I think the community would be outraged about this - it's an attack on society, it's an attack on freedom, it's an attack on democracy."
Security at stations was being reviewed, including the option of placing security guards at stations considered at risk, Mr O'Callaghan said.
"If we see this escalating we might have to place security guards or something like that in the short term," Mr O'Callaghan said.
Longer term security solutions would be looked at for 170 police stations across WA, many of which were considered low security facilities, he said.
The compound at Warwick police station, built more than 20 years ago, is not secured, and the carpark where officers park their vehicles has no security cameras.
Mr O'Callaghan said it was important police officers were adequately protected while doing their jobs but he did not want heavily fortified police stations.
"This is a new threat - obviously we will have to think about how we will be beefing up security at police stations," he said.
The cars targeted at the Warwick station were both late-model Holden Commodores - one a sedan and the other a station wagon.
Mr O'Callaghan said it was possible the offender may have mistaken the vehicles for police cars.
"I'm unsure about how the fire was started, we have found accelerant on the vehicles and the arson squad are still working on that."
