Roller shutters Serpentine

Serpentine had 8 burglaries in 2025 on WA Police figures, and 11 in 2021. With 2,863 residents at the 2021 Census, the 2025 rate was 2.8 per 1,000, below the metropolitan figure of 4.0.

Across the WA Police series the yearly count has ranged from 5 to 25. Numbers that small are too few to read a trend, so a lower year or a higher one says little on its own. As in every suburb, the count combines homes and businesses.

A shutter does not change the statistics; it changes what sits in front of one window. Lowered, it is a physical barrier on the glass, and getting past it is a slower and noisier business.

86.4% of Serpentine's 854 occupied private dwellings were separate houses at the 2021 Census, and the census recorded no semi-detached homes and no flats. 88.2% of households owned their home, and 38.4% owned it outright, against a Greater Perth home ownership figure of 70.4%.

Landgate records that in 1891 the government had opened up land in the area by declaring the Serpentine Agricultural Area, and the townsite was gazetted in December 1893. The name comes from the Serpentine River, called that in the early 1830s because of its winding lower reaches.

For houses, residential roller shutters are made to measure for each window and door. A verandah or alfresco suits outdoor blinds: Ziptrak and Slidetrack to close it in, cafe blinds, or motorised blinds.

17.7% of Serpentine residents are 65 or over, so the WA Seniors Card Safety and Security Rebate is worth a look. Window shutters and security window screens are both eligible items, with up to $400 per household, claimable once over the life of the scheme.

On planning, the state's deemed provisions let a single house go ahead without development approval for works like these, provided the R-Codes apply, the work meets the deemed-to-comply provisions and the place is not heritage protected.

The Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale's Designing Out Crime policy, Local Planning Policy No 24, offers guidance too. Read in brief, it prefers security features such as shutters to be used with restraint, to suit the look of the building and, ideally, to be an integral part of the design.