A West Australian man has been taken into custody by police after allegedly handcuffing two children outside a Broome home on Tuesday afternoon.
A video live streamed to Facebook around 2:15pm shows angry scenes outside a property, with two children sitting on the ground against a garage door.
The children’s hands are shown to be linked together by cable ties.
A WA Police spokesperson labelled the incident as “confronting” and confirmed a man had been taken into custody and an investigation was underway.
Officers were called to a Cable Beach street at 2:15pm for a reported trespass incident.
“Police are working closely with the affected families, and encourage community members to allow officers to thoroughly investigate the matter so that the full circumstances can be established,” the spokesperson said.
The children have been confirmed as a six-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy.
St John Ambulance paramedics have conducted a health check on the children who have been reunited with their family.
Before being removed by the user, the video had been viewed 27,000 times and shared 1,800 times.
The incident comes amid growing community concerns around juvenile crime in the Kimberley.
WA Police has deployed additional officers to the state’s north as part of Operation Regional Shield in an effort to reduce juvenile offending.
A new on-country juvenile justice facility has long been coined as an alternative to Perth’s Banksia Hill Detention Centre, but the project has consistently been delayed.
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