Mrs Roberts questions the Minister for Police about the commitment to employing additional police officers, considering voluntary severances and attrition rates. The Minister confirms the commitment to the recruitment program and explains the funding for voluntary severances.

AnsweredQoN 842Legislative Assembly
Asked
26 November 2013
Portfolio
Police

QuestionView source ↗

POLICE —
VOLUNTARY SEVERANCES
842. Mrs M.H. ROBERTS to the
Minister for Police:
At the state election the minister promised to engage an
additional 720 police officers. Today she has committed to engage 196 officers
to replace those who are now facing termination. That is a total of 916.
(1) Does the
minister commit to employing a full 916 officers above attrition over this
four-year period ending in 2017?
(2) Given that
the attrition rate of police is about 200 a year, does the minister commit to
employing about 800—or whatever the number of attrition is—over
the next four years?
(3) How much
money has the Commissioner of Police found in his budget to fund the voluntary
severances?

AnswerView source ↗

(1)–(3)
To answer part (3) first, the Commissioner of Police has found $37 million in
the WA Police budget to fund these voluntary severances for 196 non–front-line
police officers. I am sure that members on this side of the house are
supportive of the voluntary severance package for police and are interested to
know how it is broken down. Of that $37 million, 76 per cent forms the main
part of the actual severance package; the remaining 24 per cent are
entitlements and those sorts of things that would normally come to officers
resigning from the police if that is what they choose to do.
We remain committed to the
recruitment program. As part of this process, we have liaised with the commissioner and he has ramped up
activities through the academy. I attended a graduation for 28 officers last
Friday. Another 60 officers are coming through and will graduate on about 3 January.
W e will experience a dip in the
total number of police officers around March. If these 196 officers all accept
the voluntary severance package for which they have put their hands up, there
will be a dip. W e will recruit
to achieve our target by 2017 as committed to the community at the election.

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