Police boost here to stay: Premier

Premier Mark McGowan has said the implementation of a new metropolitan policing model will benefit Rockingham and said it was his expectation staffing numbers locally would not change.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson announced several changes to the operational policing model last week after a review of the organisation.

One of the outcomes was the expansion of the number of metropolitan districts from four to eight, with the new hubs to be based in Perth, Midland, Mirrabooka, Joondalup, Armadale, Cannington, Fremantle and Mandurah.

Mr McGowan told the Telegraph the increase in the number of districts would mean a smaller jurisdiction for officers in Rockingham and Kwinana.

“It is taking it back to the old model — obviously overlapping us is Fremantle and Mandurah,” he said.

“It allows for police officers to not have to transit such a huge distance as they were before.”

Mr McGowan said the new measures were due to be implemented mid-next year and highlighted the 21 new officers that were allocated to Rockingham Police Station back in June.

“We had a big boost in police numbers here in Rockingham — my expectation is that this won’t change,” he said.

“There has been a significant boost in police numbers here, which is a good thing.

“The police district before was very large.

“It will now be smaller so officers do not have to go such enormous distances to address issues.”

Mr Dawson said police efforts would be co-ordinated from a Maylands incident control centre.

“Importantly, officers will be deployed from a centralised State operations centre, which will have enhanced co-ordination and greater control over resources,” he said.

A spokeswoman from the Office of the Commissioner said the precise boundaries were still being determined in regards to which of the eight districts Rockingham and Kwinana would fall under.

She said changes were being made in response to feedback and would be phased in by July 1, 2018.

Each district will have a superintendent and three inspectors to improve the management of policing resources and the delivery of policing services.