Perth Lord Mayor hopeful Basil Zempilas says he will work with government to deliver 200 more police officers for Perth CBD

Lord Mayor hopeful Basil Zempilas will today make law and order a key election issue, calling for a greater police presence in the City of Perth. The sporting and media broadcaster will also provide free parking for police working in the city if he is elected on October 17. Mr Zempilas has vowed to work with the State Government on delivering 200 more officers to its ranks if he is voted in as Lord Mayor. “In the last three weeks I’ve knocked on a thousand doors of residents and business operators in West Perth, East Perth, the CBD, Crawley and Northbridge, and there is a common theme they keep telling me — they want a safer Perth,” Mr Zempilas said. “Residents, business owners and visitors to the City of Perth are entitled to feel safe and I believe safety is a right, not a privilege. We know that if residents and visitors feel safe in the city, they will spend more time and money here and that will lead to increased business activity, and ultimately more tourists will be attracted to visit and enjoy Perth.” The 7NEWS Perth sports presenter is fighting for the top job against former ABC journalist Di Bain, media identity Mark Gibson, start-up and co-working champion Brodie McCulloch and former magistrate Tim Schwass. WA Police Union president Harry Arnott yesterday supported the move for more coppers. “The situation at the Perth Police Centre is absolutely dire,” Mr Arnott said. “We are 200 police officers short just in Perth alone and if we want to address the issues currently plaguing our CBD, we need more blue shirts. We have seen recent violent attacks in Northbridge and when that occurs as many as 10 officers are tied up for hours dealing with the fallout, leaving even less to respond to the community’s calls for assistance.” The union has argued that a lack of parking for police at various stations throughout Perth and regional WA was also a growing issue that needed to be addressed. Mr Zempilas said if elected Lord Mayor, he would provide free parking for police working in the City of Perth. He said no free parking for police officers on shift was often an impediment to attracting high-quality police officers to a Perth posting. Mr Arnott said it was “near on impossible” to attract police officers to Perth Police Centre because it lacked free secure parking. “You cannot ask our hardworking police officers to get on public transport in the early hours of the morning, often with the same people they have either locked up or given a move-on notice. It’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.