Inquest into the Death of Jamie Alan GRAHAM
Inquest into the Death of Jamie Alan GRAHAM
Delivered on : 25 November 2020
Delivered at : Perth
Finding of : Coroner Jenkin
Recommendations :Yes
Recommendation No. 1
In order to identify any skill deficits amongst officers posted to regional police stations, especially in relation to the conduct of land searches for missing persons, training officers at District Offices should conduct an audit of the police officers in their respective Districts. Any identified skills deficiencies should then be addressed and training opportunities should be prioritised.
Recommendation No. 2
In order to enhance and strengthen relationships between police and members of local Aboriginal communities, the Officers in Charge (OIC) of regional police stations should undertake immersive, face-to-face cultural awareness training. Once they have completed this training, the OICs should engage with local Aboriginal Elders with a view to developing and delivering locality-specific immersive cultural security training to the police officers posted to their respective stations.
Recommendation No. 3
As a matter of urgency, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Western Australian Police Force (the Police) should finalise a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which clearly sets out the types and level of support that DoJ expects the Police to provide to Courts visiting towns in regional Western Australia. The MOU should be structured in a way which enables the Police to make strategic decisions about what additional resources may be required, so as to ensure that frontline policing in the regional town being visited by the Court is not adversely impacted. Where an incident requiring urgent police attendance occurs, the policing response to that incident should take priority over any court security and custodial services being provided by police at that time.
Orders/Rules : N/A
Suppression Order : N/A
Summary : At the request of his family, the deceased is referred to as Jamie. On or about 11 April 2019 Jamie died on Twitchin Road, approximately one kilometre from the North West Coastal Highway, Yannarie from acute renal failure due to dehydration in relation to environmental exposure. He was 50 years of age.
On 9 April 2019, Jamie and two companions set off from Carnarvon to drive to Karratha. Their car ran out of fuel and they called emergency services for help. Police from Onslow made an unsuccessful attempt to locate them on the evening of 9 April 2019, but the search was not subsequently resumed. Jamie’s companions subsequently left him with the vehicle and went their separate ways and he was found deceased on 12 April 2019, about 4 kilometres from the broken down car.
The Coroner made two recommendations relating to improving police training and a further recommendation related to developing a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Justice and the Western Australia Police Force in respect to clarify the support to be provided to regional courts.
The Coroner was unable to conclude that Jamie’s death was caused or contributed to by any action of a member of the Police.
Catch Words : Assigning Task levels : Communication : Training : Police response to emergency calls : Monitoring of CAD jobs : Accident
Last updated: 4-Mar-2021
[ back to top ]