WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding the actual and authorised number of police officers in Western Australia, broken down by policing district as of October 2020. The answer reveals discrepancies between authorised and actual strength in various districts.

AnsweredQoN 6451Legislative Assembly
Asked
8 October 2020
Portfolio
Police; Road Safety

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to Police numbers in Western Australia and ask: (a) what is the actual number of Police Officers; (b) what is the authorised/approved strength of Police Officers; and (c) what is the current actual and authorised strength of each policing district?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
4 December 2020
Responded by
Minister for Police; Road Safety
Response time
16 days
The Western Australia Police Force advise:
(a) 6 719
(b) 6 540
(c) In October 2020:
Authorised strength:
Armadale District 268.75
Cannington District 262.00
Fremantle District 266.65
Joondalup District 273.00
Mandurah District 287.00
Midland District 269.00
Mirrabooka District 264.00
Perth District 290.00
State Operations 166.00
Goldfields-Esperance District 233.00
Great Southern District 193.00
Kimberley District 219.00
Mid-West Gascoyne District 248.00
Pilbara District 221.00
South West District 272.00
Wheatbelt District 162.00
Actual strength
Armadale District 265.49
Cannington District 259.46
Fremantle District 262.45
Joondalup District 276.69
Mandurah District 281.00
Midland District 268.28
Mirrabooka District 254.81
Perth District 311.31
State Operations 156.18
Goldfields-Esperance District 204.77
Great Southern District 185.19
Kimberley District 207.86
Mid-West Gascoyne District 228.97
Pilbara District 209.81
South West District 257.95
Wheatbelt District 153.38
Police Officer is Recruit to Commander. FTE are deployed by the Commissioner of Police to address areas of greatest operational need. To enable this, vacancies are carefully managed across the Western Australia Police Force. Between March and May 2020, Police placed a moratorium on transfers as part of an initial in response to the pandemic. Since June, positions are being filled and transfers issued routinely.

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