Perth crime rise unprecedented: Labor

A sharp rise in assaults in Perth in January highlights how crime in Western Australia is rising at an unprecedented rate and has to be urgently dealt with, state Opposition Leader Mark McGowan has warned.

The latest crime figures released by police this week show offences against the person in Perth jumped by 21 per cent in January compared with a year ago.

Such offences, which include assaults, sexual assaults, robberies and threatening behaviour, have risen for 16 consecutive months compared with the previous year, according to police statistics.

The last time the monthly rate of offences against a person in WA's capital city did not rise from the year before was in September 2014 when there were 1908 offences compared to 2068 in September 2013.

"Whether it's motor vehicle theft, burglary, assaults, you name it, it has been extraordinary and shocking, often with double digit increases and many families have suffered as a consequence," Mr McGowan told ABC Radio.

The WA Labor leader has strongly criticised the Coalition government's Frontline 2020 police reform program, which he says has obviously failed due to rising crime and had divided police into artificial, separate groups, leaving many teams with too much to do and districts that are too large to cover.

It would be scrapped for "traditional policing", which was working better before the 15-month old Frontline model was introduced and would include decent arrangements to deal with the major problem of methamphetamine abuse.

Tackling the scourge of the drug would include law and enforcement and rehabilitation, reducing offending and catching culprits, Mr McGowan said.

Police Minister Liza Harvey gave qualified support to police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan this week, saying both she and the force's executive team were not happy with the crime figures, it was not a "new normal" and they were focussed on driving it down.