Let's go to Dave Flaherty now he is the WA Police Union president. The Police Minister Rest Whitby has refused to set a recruitment target after Labor fell short of its twenty twenty promise to recruit an extra nine hundred and fifty police officers by twenty twenty four. I want to find out from Dave exactly what sort of numbers we have got flowing through the door. Dave, good morning to you mate.
How are you yeah?
Good morning Carl, how are you yeah?
Really well?
What sort of numbers have been achieved during this time?
Look, he was in the McGowan government that promised the nine hundred and fifty extra police officers and we're still struggling to make that. We're still about three hundred short. Having said that, there are more police officers now than every before, which is great. Unfortunately, we're filling up with young officers and that's not a bad thing on their behalf. They're doing a fantastic job. But retention is the key, trying to keep some of our senior and experienced officers.
So what do they want to leave.
Of this many reasons, tenure is a problem. People specialize in the area and they can't stay in that area. They need to move on. Just the rigors of policing. I think I've spoke last week in relation to the number of assaults on police officers that's going through the roof. It is not a fantastic career choice right now. We don't feel that we're getting support from government and other government departments such as the courts. It's just not in a great place.
Is the paperwork over the top?
Absolutely, it's a bit ironic because certainly with this commissioner, who's more tech savvy than anyone before, there was a real push to be paper free, and sadly there's more paperwork now than every before.
Why is that red tape.
Red tape bureaucracy.
I mean, it's in all ab out lives though, let's face it. I mean it's just out of control everywhere. Dave and I feel your pain. Look when you get an opportunity to go through the police academy, which we saw recently, even Oliver Peterson, I saw him down there, and you know, focus on domestic violence and dealing with those sorts of situations with a lot of these young officers that are training. How much can a young person who wants to enter the police force earn.
So as a as a recruit, it's just sort of eighty thousand that goes up in their first year to just over ninety thousand by they've done five or six years and the police force they're well over one hundred thousand.
Right, and they obviously get some benefits for going to some remote places et cetera, which is where all are.
Those young people feel.
Do you think generally though the public's are enough of police?
No, I don't.
And the problem, well, I think the problem we have Mills is whilst the whilst the numbers of police are increasing, bureaucracy is holding them in the office. But the population of Western Australia is also booming, so the police the population ratio is bigger now than every before. And as the population increases, demand increases, so police i'll are being
tied up at jobs for longer. Are junior officers who are doing a fantastic job and I'm not knocking them at all don't have the experience to deal with matters as fast as our experienced officer. So retention is the key. Keep the experienced officers get the job done quicker they can. They can attend to more issues.
So to keep the officers in the job, what do you think needs to be done.
We need to look at the tenior policy. We need to get that to get that change so that people can settle down and decide on a career path. We also need to look at greater respite. The job is more demanding now than every before. You can't keep flogging people until the morale improves. You've got to make sure that they're in a working environment that supports their family life balance and their health.
What sort of leave do officers get in a yearly basis?
Is it four weeks like what you'd call a normal nine to five job, because it's not a normal job.
No, no, So they get six weeks of leave, which is made up of a number of things. So the standard industry four weeks like everybody gets, but they get in the additional two weeks, which is supposed to account for public holidays, supposed to account for the rigors of policing, and supposed to account for the demand of working varied shifts. So there's not a great compensation when you think we'll give you two weeks and that covers for the rigors
of policing. It covers for public holidays, of which there is eleven this year, and it covers for shift work right where there is a national instrument that awards an additional week of leave for working those sort of ships.
Just very quickly, is it room for part time police officers?
Yes? Yes, we have part time police officers. We have plenty of them.
And do they do other jobs as well?
So I want to do fifty as a police officer and I want to run a garden center for the other fifty.
Is there room for that in the police force? Is there flexibility?
Yes, there is the secondary employment conditions and obviously that would vary. It certainly wouldn't want you in the security industry if you're a police officer, wouldn't want you working in a lone supremacist if you're if you're a police officer. So those those things have some restrictions, and.
There is no age restrictions, right, Okay, Well, I'd love to ask the question of the public do they see enough police officers around the beat? And we'll ask that question right now, Dave, thanks your time, Dave Flarherty. There w a police union president