Katanning’s top cop speaks out about family feuding amid fears someone could get seriously hurt or killed

Senior Sergeant Carlos Correia has spoken out about an escalation of inter-family violence in Katanning that has police worried someone could get seriously hurt or killed. Katanning’s top cop is planning to meet with local elders in coming weeks in a bid to calm tensions between families. There have been several recent examples of inter-family violence in Katanning, including one involving a pepper spray-like substance and another involving a baseball bat. In court earlier this month, Great Southern police prosecutor Sergeant Dave Loverock said the alleged assault of a 19-year-old woman in Katanning was a case of “inter-family conflict”. In that case, police allege innocent bystanders were also affected by the alleged assault. Sen. Sgt Correia said he was calling on families to leave any history of bad blood in the past. “The next generation of children are watching what is going on,” he said. “The message is to leave the history of violent behaviour behind and build a better future for everyone going forward.” He urged families to get together and work through disagreements as calmly as possible. But he also warned that violent behaviour would not be tolerated in any case. “People can’t continue to be reckless and use violence as an answer,” he said. “Police won’t tolerate this behaviour out there in the community where people can get hurt.” Rather than just simply calling for an end to the violence, Sen. Sgt Correia said he wanted to meet with representatives from the families to try to make real change. “I’m happy to get involved and mediate. We want to calm things down,” he said. “I’ve got a list of people to talk to and bring together — more the elders in the town, people who know the background. It’s about having an objective view and listening to both sides of the story. “Our concern is these matters tend to escalate and it can lead to serious injury or death with tempers being frayed. “We want this to stop.”