A controversial cartoon by Bill Leak depicting an Aboriginal man with a beer can who does not remember his son's name is an "accurate reflection" of what police see in the field daily, according to WA's top officer.

It comes after four boys were charged with trashing a high school in the Goldfields city of Kalgoorlie at the weekend.

Police have now revealed one of the children accused of causing the damage, a 10-year-old boy, was taken home where his father refused to take responsibility for him.

Karl O'Callaghan says some families are unable or unwilling to care for their children properly. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

"So we ended up, for many hours, looking after that child, trying to find a responsible adult," Commissioner O'Callaghan said.

"I will say though, as bad as it sounds, it's not an unusual thing for police to have trouble finding responsible adults for children that we find in trouble or on the streets late at night."

Commissioner O'Callaghan said the cartoon by Leak, published by The Australian newspaper in August and criticised by some Indigenous leaders as an "attack" on Aboriginal people, was an appropriate portrayal of some communities.

"From my perspective, Bill Leak's cartoon is actually an accurate reflection of what our officers see on a day-to-day basis, when they're dealing particularly with kids from Aboriginal communities or Aboriginal families who are in trouble," he said.

"It happens repeatedly, and I think what Bill Leak was doing was trying to indicate a broader problem for the community to sort out."

Commissioner O'Callaghan said he believed it was a "generational problem".

"I think the problem is so widespread and so protracted that it's not easy just to solve it with, you know, regular government services," he said.

"Where you have families that are unable or unwilling to care for their children properly, there needs to be other care arrangements in place."

"While people are trying to deal with the families and deal with things like substance abuse and alcohol abuse ... those kids are still running amok in the community, creating havoc, damaging things, getting in trouble with the law.

"So there needs to be some sort of process in place to shield them from that, and the most obvious thing is some sort of other care arrangements while the families are reconstructed or made better or whatever it is they're trying to do."

The attack at Kalgoorlie Boulder Community High School came just days after stage one of a $45 million redevelopment of the campus was officially unveiled.

Almost 50 students were suspended from the school in the first three weeks of the year.