❓ Mr Rundle questions the Minister for Police about vacancies in the road policing command. The Minister responds by highlighting the evolving nature of road policing and the statewide responsibility of all officers.
AnsweredQoN 364Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
VACANCIES
364. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to a report in The West
Australian on 7 June that the road policing command unit had 54 vacancies
out of 296 full-time equivalent positions at the end of April this year.
(1) How does the
minister explain allowing almost one in five positions to be vacant in this
critically important police unit?
(2) What steps is
the minister taking to rapidly fill these vacancies and ensure that a full complement
of officers is available to help improve road safety?
VACANCIES
364. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Police:
I refer to a report in The West
Australian on 7 June that the road policing command unit had 54 vacancies
out of 296 full-time equivalent positions at the end of April this year.
(1) How does the
minister explain allowing almost one in five positions to be vacant in this
critically important police unit?
(2) What steps is
the minister taking to rapidly fill these vacancies and ensure that a full complement
of officers is available to help improve road safety?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for his question. I just point out, as we did in response to
the media inquiry, which was done at the behest of I think one of the Liberal
Party members in the upper house following a question in Parliament, that the
way road safety or road laws are policed has changed dramatically from perhaps
the time when the member was in government, but certainly in recent decades. In
previous days, we had dedicated traffic enforcement officers who did nothing
else. That is not the way road traffic is managed or road policing is conducted
across the state today. Every single police officer in the state is and can be
responsible for enforcing the road rules, particularly in the regions, as the
member would be well aware, because he drives through Williams and regularly
encounters that very active group of police officers in the Williams
subdistrict. They are very good. Anyone who drove down to Albany recently for
our caucus retreat encountered not just one there, but also one down in
Manjimup, and I reckon there was another one from the Albany traffic
enforcement guys. Any of our police officers from anywhere in the regions are
responsible, and they do a wonderful job. They regularly report. We know that a
number of roadside breath and drug tests are conducted, and speed checks and
all the other road enforcement practices right across the state are enforced by
all our police officers.
The unit that the member is
referring to fluctuates. The numbers fluctuate on a regular basis. I know that
because I go to all the graduations. I regularly meet officers graduating into
the police force, joining the blue family, and often one of their first
postings and first tasks is to go to traffic enforcement. They do that so they
can garner the experience of having worked in that environment. That means that
obviously the numbers go up and down. As they move on from there, they go to
other places. With respect to where resources are allocated and where police
officers are tasked, that is entirely at the behest of the Commissioner of Police. In government, we ensure
that there are more police officers today than ever before in history.
We ensure that we resource our police force adequately, and then the
commissioner tasks those officers to wherever he views appropriate.
thank the member for his question. I just point out, as we did in response to
the media inquiry, which was done at the behest of I think one of the Liberal
Party members in the upper house following a question in Parliament, that the
way road safety or road laws are policed has changed dramatically from perhaps
the time when the member was in government, but certainly in recent decades. In
previous days, we had dedicated traffic enforcement officers who did nothing
else. That is not the way road traffic is managed or road policing is conducted
across the state today. Every single police officer in the state is and can be
responsible for enforcing the road rules, particularly in the regions, as the
member would be well aware, because he drives through Williams and regularly
encounters that very active group of police officers in the Williams
subdistrict. They are very good. Anyone who drove down to Albany recently for
our caucus retreat encountered not just one there, but also one down in
Manjimup, and I reckon there was another one from the Albany traffic
enforcement guys. Any of our police officers from anywhere in the regions are
responsible, and they do a wonderful job. They regularly report. We know that a
number of roadside breath and drug tests are conducted, and speed checks and
all the other road enforcement practices right across the state are enforced by
all our police officers.
The unit that the member is
referring to fluctuates. The numbers fluctuate on a regular basis. I know that
because I go to all the graduations. I regularly meet officers graduating into
the police force, joining the blue family, and often one of their first
postings and first tasks is to go to traffic enforcement. They do that so they
can garner the experience of having worked in that environment. That means that
obviously the numbers go up and down. As they move on from there, they go to
other places. With respect to where resources are allocated and where police
officers are tasked, that is entirely at the behest of the Commissioner of Police. In government, we ensure
that there are more police officers today than ever before in history.
We ensure that we resource our police force adequately, and then the
commissioner tasks those officers to wherever he views appropriate.
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