Mr. Bolt questions the removal of total sworn police officer numbers from the annual report. Minister Whitby responds by stating the information is readily available and the police force is larger than in previous years, highlighting ongoing recruitment efforts.

AnsweredQoN 482Legislative Assembly
Asked
18 September 2025
Portfolio
Police

QuestionView source ↗

Police officers—Numbers
482. Mr David Bolt to
the Minister for Police:
I have a
supplementary question. Given it is such a challenge, why is it that the police
annual report no longer includes total numbers of sworn police officers?

AnswerView source ↗

The annual report is
put together in a way that is giving information that is available to the
community in the most obvious way. The member can ask me any day of the week
how many officers we have on the beat, and I can continue to tell him it is in
excess of 7,300.
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Reece Whitby: I can also tell you—
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Minister
for Education, please stop.
Mr Reece Whitby: I can also tell members that there
are well in excess of 7,300 officers. It is a figure that is considerably
higher, hundreds higher than when we were elected in 2017. It is much higher
than when crime peaked in Western Australia in 2016 under the previous government
and we will continue to train and attract more and more police to our force.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Nationals WA.
Mr Reece Whitby: Our police academy is churning out
1,000 officers a year and we will continue to have a very good police force in
Western Australia.

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