Western Australia Police Force


The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia to a population of 2.66 million people, of which 2.11 million reside in the Perth Metropolitan Region. Western Australia has a land area of, making it the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction.

History

Early history

The genesis of the police was the appointment of a Sheriff by Captain Stirling on 18 June 1829, as part of the proclamation of the Swan River Colony, charged with maintaining public order in Perth and Fremantle colonies. The proclamation provided for the appointment of a sheriff having under his direction a high constable, constables, bailiffs, and surveyors of highways. The Sheriff still exists as an officer of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, but no longer has jurisdiction over police or highways. The Sheriff retains responsibility for enforcement of civil court judgments and the administration of jury service. Police do occasionally carry out Sheriff and Bailiff duties, particularly in remote country locations.
Early colonial policemen were recruited by Magistrates and worked part-time, employed on a local, "as needed" basis. They were paid only for specific tasks, such as one shilling for serving a summons. By 1830, there were fifteen part-time constables in the state, of whom five worked in Perth.
A Mounted Police troop was established in 1834 as the needs of the colony changed, in particular after the introduction of convicts. This troop proved unpopular with citizens due to the perception that it was not efficient and was being paid out of their taxes for duties which the military should be performing. In the same year as its establishment, the Mounted Police were involved in the Pinjarra Massacre during which a large number of Aboriginal people where killed and after which Captain Ellis, the police superintendent, died.
In 1840, the first full-time constable for Perth was appointed.
On 11 May 1849, the colony's Legislative Council passed a Police Ordinance which outlined police powers and responsibilities. The Ordinance noted that 'distinct general and town police forces' did not yet exist.
Between 1849 and 1853, the police service in Western Australia existed in one form or another, whether based on the larger townships or created for special purposes, such as the Water Police and Convict Police. By, the mid-1850s, many colonists were petitioning the Colonial Secretary for a united force.

Convict period

After convicts started arriving in the colony in 1849, the police acquired the duties of registering and supervising ticket-of-leave men. By 1870, after transportation had ceased, some 1,244 ticket-of-leave men had to be supervised by 146 police employees.
Applicants for police service were required to be aged under forty, literate and physically fit. Leave was difficult to obtain for officers and officers were not to appear in public when out of uniform. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the monthly pay day was marked by a parade with band.
A Criminal Investigation Department was set up in 1873, although two detectives had been sent out from Britain in 1854. A fingerprint bureau was set up in 1902.

Modern policing

On 5 March 1853, the Western Australian Colonial Secretary, W.A. Stanford, signed a notice published in the Government Gazette, formally establishing the Police Force as a "united, structured body". The Colonial Secretary appointed John Augustus Conroy as Superintendent of Police : "His Excellency the Governor directs the following appointments to be notified for general information: T.A.Conroy to be Superintendent of Police". On 15 March 1853, the Gazette published a Code of Rules for the Western Australian Police Force, signed by the Colonial Secretary on 11 March, which outlined a formal command structure and listed basic duties of commissioned and non-commissioned officers and constables.
The new Police Force officially began operation on 14 March 1853, when Conroy formally entered his duties, taking charge of police districts and making arrangements with Magistrates for the use of the police.
By 1861, the Police Force consisted of around 75 commissioned officers. In the same year, a second, expanded Police Ordinance was passed to clarify the chain of command, the powers and responsibilities of members, and the various offences they had to deal with. The Police Ordinance was superseded by the passage of the Police Act in 1892, by which time the Police Force had increased in size to approximately 225 men.
Since the police numbering system, a system wherein police officers are assigned a Police Regimental Number, was introduced for members in 1898, approximately 1,112 had been paid for police services between 1829 and 1898.
Between 1861 and 1995, the Police Force was known as the Western Australian Police Department. It changed its name to the Western Australian Police Service in 1994. In 2017, Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan introduced a "Frontline First" policy, which included an organisation name change to the Western Australian Police Force.
Between 1898 and August 2023, over 10,000 men and women served in the Western Australian police.

Women in WA Police

Prior to 1917, women were not permitted to serve as sworn police officers in Western Australia. Discussions of female police officers were held in October 1915 but remained unfunded.
In 1917, after two years of concerted effort from women's groups in New South Wales and South Australia, and amidst concerns that male officers were "not resourced or trained to address... the moral or physical wellbeing of the women and children of WA", Western Australia's first female police officers, Helen Blanche Dugdale and Laura Ethel Chipper, were appointed in August 1917 to commence duties on 1 September 1917 as Women Police Constables under the newly established Women Police Office.
Dugdale and Chipper were employed under the Police Act with full constabulary powers, but were officially commissioned to "patrol slum neighbourhoods", "look after drunken women", and "obtain assistance for their neglected children". Early WPCs were initially segregated from the male policing divisions, being assigned to the female-only Women Police Office, and assisting male-only units as required.
In the early 1970s, the Women Police Office was disbanded and serving female constables were integrated into all aspects of policing with the same powers and duties of their male counterparts.
, women constitute 24.4% of sworn WA Police officers, and 25.4% of all WA Police staff, including three of 12 senior officers.

Organisation

The Police Headquarters is located in East Perth overlooking The Causeway, near the WACA Ground. The structure is entered on the State Heritage Register. The building fronting Hay Street opposite the WACA housed the former East Perth Lockup and a magistrate's courtroom. Recruits are trained at the Western Australian Police Academy at Joondalup. Previously, the academy was located at Maylands, in premises still used by various units including the mounted and K-9 sections.
The command structure has the state divided into eight major policing regions, with the metropolitan policing region sub-divided into eight districts. Policing command is divided into 3 major executive divisions:
  • Executive Director,
  • Deputy Commissioner for Operations, and
  • Deputy Commissioner for Professional Standards.
These executive functions report to the Commissioner of Police, which is the highest-ranking position within the Western Australian Police Force., the Commissioner is Col Blanch. Politically, the service comes within the portfolio of the Minister for Police.
A number of specialist units exist within Western Australian police, including:
, some 9,481 police staff were employed by Western Australian police, which includes 7,214 police officers, auxiliary officers, and Aboriginal liaison officers. Police staffing includes public servants, wages staff, and full-time employees, but not children's crossing guards.
2023 staff figures saw a reduction in total staff employed by Western Australian police compared to the previous years' workforce profile. This came after several years of Western Australian police officers "quitting in record numbers", attributed to "poor pay and conditions, rigid leadership, a lack of opportunity to share opinions and to progress careers". In early 2022, it was revealed that Western Australian police was struggling to attract new recruits and keep existing numbers amidst low morale issues within the organisation, prompting resignations of 40 police officers per month between January and June 2022.

Police Auxiliary Officers

, Western Australian police employed 366 Police Auxiliary Officers, who are non-sworn officers employed to support police officers through auxiliary functions. Duties include admission, supervision, and release of detainees at Perth Watch House and other station-based lock-ups, custodial support for drugs, firearms, and other evidence, processing and management of property and other articles seized by Western Australian police, transportation of detainees to-and-from courthouses and hospitals, and a range of other station-based support tasks.
Police Auxiliary Officers are distinguishable from sworn Police Officers by their maroon epaulettes, white name patches, and uniforms, which display 'Auxiliary Officer' instead of 'Police'.
Police Auxiliary Officers who are tasked with protective service duties are authorised to carry a firearm and Taser and are equipped with telescopic batons, handcuffs, and Oleoresin Capsicum Spray. They have limited police powers and training lasts 12 weeks at the Western Australian Police Academy.