Call for police to go bush as vacancies emerge in Mid West, regional WA

The State’s top cop is asking all city-based police staff to help fill station vacancies across regional WA, including the Mid West.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson on Wednesday said he expects police officers to “put their hands up” to fill 40 vacancies in the regions — including three in Geraldton — and uphold their oath to “serve anywhere”.

His comments came after the WA Police Union slammed an email forcing officers to move to country areas if they had not yet served in the bush as the “21st century equivalent of press gangs”.

Mr Dawson said more than 2000 officers received the email, which stated that they had not yet served in regional areas and had three days to respond to give their preferences as to where they wish to be posted.

He said officers took an oath to serve their community and that one in four cops had served in remote towns.

“When I signed up, as every police officer has, you swear an oath of engagement,” he told 6PR.

“Accompanying that oath of engagement is a direct provision under the Police Act which requires police officers to serve the entire State — that’s why we call ourselves the Western Australia Police Force.”

Geraldton Police Station officer-in-charge Stuart Gerreyn said applications for the local positions had already been received, and he did not expect the roles to be vacant for long.

Mr Dawson said there was not an “extraordinary” number of vacancies in the regions, but he was eager for all police officers to spend time in the bush.

“The fact I have over 2000 officers yet to serve in the bush, I’m saying OK let’s see whether you’re ready and willing to go,” he said.

“Most of the police I speak to actually don’t want to come back to the city because they just love the lifestyle, but they love the style of work that we do because you benefit the community.”

Police union boss Mick Kelly said this month that WA Police had gone “nuclear” in its approach recently with management-initiated transfers.

In a newsletter sent out to union members on March 17, Mr Kelly acknowledged WA Police had several hard-to-fill positions, particularly in regional districts. But he said there was a better way to try to encourage officers to serve in the bush.

“Not all that long ago, choosing the bush over the big smoke had its pluses. You earned a higher wage. You enjoyed a better lifestyle. You experienced a different type of policing,” he said.

“Today, high crime rates, high rent payments and high station vacancies are just three of the reasons many of our members aren’t falling over themselves to serve in regional areas.”