KAREN PERCY: Police in Victoria are under fire this afternoon for not putting out an all-states alert for a murder suspect who was ultimately shot and killed by a Western Australian police officer on Tuesday.

38-year-old William John Watkins was a suspect in the double murder of two sisters in Melbourne, but only police officers in Victoria had been asked to look out for the man.

Victoria’s Police Assistant Commissioner, Simon Overland, has been defending his force, saying it would not have been appropriate to put out an all-states alert based on the evidence available at the time.

Lynn Bell reports.

LYNN BELL: 38 -year-old William John Watkins has, in the past, been convicted of rape and assault. And from the early stages, he was a person of interest to police investigating the murders of Laura and Colleen Irwin, who were raped and stabbed to death on Friday night.

He lived next door to the sisters, who were 21 and 23, and this morning the Assistant Commissioner for Crime with Victoria Police, Simon Overland, told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, that DNA tests have now been done on blood samples.

SIMON OVERLAND: It was DNA testing of blood samples or blood that had been found.

NEIL MITCHELL: What, of his blood, or victims’ blood?

SIMON OVERLAND: Well, it’s victim blood.

NEIL MITCHELL: So victims’ blood was found in his house?

SIMON OVERLAND: Yes. Well, that will be the allegation, yes. I mean, I make the point that all of this will need to be subject to inquiry here in Victoria, but that’s what will be alleged.

LYNN BELL: A bulletin went out to all police in Victoria at half-past-one on Tuesday, telling officers to detain Watkins if they saw him, and call the homicide detectives. But Victorian police did not notify officers interstate about the investigations.

William John Watkins was shot dead by a police officer in Western Australia on Tuesday morning, after he drove away from a petrol station without paying for fuel.

It’s alleged Watkins hit the officer with a wheel brace when he was pulled over, and Acting Sergeant Shane Gray fired two shots.

Victoria Police’s Assistant Commissioner, Simon Overland, believes detectives in Victoria have handled the case properly.

And he says there was no reason to notify interstate officers earlier in the week.

SIMON OVERLAND: We didn’t have sufficient justification to arrest that individual, we didn’t have sufficient justification to put out a wider message across the rest of Australia, because there was no proper basis for doing so.

It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon, when we got the forensic test back, that he went from being a person of interest to a firm suspect, and we were then in the process of disseminating that information across the rest of Australia when we were then able to make the connection with the events in Western Australia.

LYNN BELL: But Simon Overland says that deciding when to disseminate information is a matter of professional judgement that is open to interpretation.

SIMON OVERLAND: Did we get it right in this case? We’ll never know. I mean, had we actually put that information out into the public domain, and that shooting then happened in WA, you would quite rightly be asking us questions of did we go too early?

It’s difficult in certain circumstances such as this to know did we do… you know, was the right decision made? All I can say to you is that I’m satisfied with the way this matter has been handled.

LYNN BELL: Western Australia’s Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan says he believes communication between Victoria and the States was appropriate.

KARL O’CALLAGHAN: Victoria Police, to my knowledge, didn’t become aware this person was travelling until Monday in any event. So by the time those alerts come out it takes some time to do that. So I don’t think there’s any miscommunication, I just think it’s the turn of events.

LYNN BELL: West Australian Superintendent Fred Zagami says timely alerts for police officers, nationwide, are vital.

FRED ZAGAMI: We’d expect around Australia that police, if a person is on the run for a murder, that we put out timely information to protect the community and also the police (inaudible) they have a traffic stop.

LYNN BELL: In Western Australia, Sergeant Gray is recovering from the head injuries he suffered on Tuesday.

KAREN PERCY: That report from Lynn Bell.