WA State Election 2025: WA Police Union says neither side of politics has clear plan for officers or the force

WA’s police union has slammed both major parties, accusing them of failing to prioritise the needs of serving officers in their bid for election amid ongoing concerns about mental health. WA Police Union president Dave Flaherty said the number of officers deployed around the State, relative to population, was the lowest in decades. Mr Flaherty said the Labor Government had failed to deliver 950 sworn officers to an already “overstretched” police force. He also said the Liberals’ pitch to add the equivalent of 300 officers by increasing overtime was only going to exacerbate the mental health problems facing front-line police. “There are vacancies in regional WA, there are vacancies throughout the metropolitan area. The demand for policing is going through the roof,” Mr Flaherty said. “The commissioner (Col Blanch) openly talks about 60,000 calls for domestic violence a year, there’s only 7000 police officers spread across the State. “It is simply an impossible task to meet the demand of policing unless there’s additional resources.” Premier Roger Cook said his government had introduced “about 700 extra officers” since COVID and “continued to work with the police union”, but Mr Flaherty claimed he had not heard from either the Liberal or Labor camps. “Labor and Liberals ... are feverishly promising the world,” he said. “I find it amazing that they haven’t come and spoken to the police union on what police officers need.” The union has since detailed 10 priorities, including a trouble-free pathway to medical retirement for officers dealing with front-line traumas. “Medical retirement is critically important. This (current process) is putting people dangerously close to suicide,” Mr Flaherty said. “There’s a small number of the cohort of police . . . in the small hundreds, that are critically ill. “There are some members I know that have been recommended for medical retirement (and) they have now been waiting in the process for over 12 months. Some members have been on sick leave for nearly three years.” Other priorities outlined by the union include the freezing of rental fees throughout the next government’s term for regional cops and the introduction of a mandatory life sentences for anybody who murders an officer. As part of his election campaign, Mr Cook said Labor would ensure children accused of violent offending would be sent to trial within 28 days to ensure they didn’t reoffend if re-elected. But Mr Flaherty said the plan wasn’t good enough. “The government have been very quiet on it (policing), Mr Flaherty added. “They have talked about youth crime, they’ve talked about bringing juveniles to justice to trial within 28 days, which is just ridiculous, and it’s never going to be achievable. “This is just some throwaway words that we’re hearing from Government.” Mr Flaherty said while the Liberals were trying to propose meaningful policies, they still had “not hit the nail on the head”. “They are looking at funding overtime and sourcing essentially another 300 police officers through overtime,” he said. “We understand that that can do two things: one, put more police officers on the street; two, provide them with an additional income. “But that’s not the answer either, asking police officers to work more in the environment where mental health and stress is at the highest has ever been because of what they go through, asking them to do more of it, it’s probably not the answer either.” Liberal leader Libby Mettam said her party would introduce better superannuation for cops and get more police dogs out in the regions. The union said retention in the regions remained difficult unless better incentives and working conditions were in place.