WAPU Police News December 2020

DECEMBER 2020

Regional forensic investigation officer recalls haunting scenes Senior Constable Ben Geissler recalls the worst job in his 14 years as a forensic investigator.

Twenty years on: fatal police crash’s lasting impact

In October, WAPU commemorated the 20th death anniversary of Detective Senior Constable Michael Jenkins with his family, friends, and old colleagues.

WAPU 84th Annual Conference A full wrap of this year’s annual conference

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DEC 2020

POLICE NEWS THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WA POLICE UNION

CONTENTS

10

Regional forensic investigation officer recalls haunting scenes Senior Constable Ben Geissler recalls the worst job in his 14 years as a forensic investigator.

16

Twenty years on: fatal police crash’s lasting impact Two police families’ lives were changed forever when Detective Senior Constable Michael Jenkins and then Constable Aaron Cleaver were involved in an on-duty traffic crash in 2000.

21

WAPU 84th Annual Conference A full wrap of this year’s Annual Conference.

26

Shining a light on our fallen In September, we remembered our fallen by again illuminating buildings and landmarks across the State blue for Police Remembrance Day.

4 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

06 WAPU DIRECTORS AND STAFF 08 P RESIDENTS REPORT 15 W APU FUNDRAISING CALENDAR 28 INDUSTRIAL REPORT 30 F IELD REPORT 32 A NNUAL CONFERENCE MOTIONS 49 L EGAL 50 HEALTH 51 M OTORING 52 N EW MEMBERS – SUPER GRADUATION 54 R ETIREMENTS, RESIGNATIONS AND VALE 55 F ROM THE ARCHIVES

WA

POLICE UNION

639 Murray Street West Perth WA 6005 P (08) 9321 2155 E admin@wapu.org.au OFFICE HOURS Monday-Friday 7am-4pm AFTER HOURS EMERGENCY DIRECTOR 0438 080 930 www.wapu.org.au Follow us facebook.com/WAPoliceUnion Twitter @WAPoliceUnion Instagram instagram.com/wapoliceunion

PUBLISHED BY WA Police Union 639 Murray Street West Perth WA 6005 (08) 9321 2155 ADVERTISING WA Police Union (08) 9321 2155 DISCLAIMER WAPU (“Publisher�) advises that the contents of this publication are the sole discretion of the WA Police Union and the magazine is offered for information purposes only. The publication has been formulated in good faith and the Publisher believes its contents to be accurate, however, the contents do not amount to a recommendation (either expressly or by implication) and should not be relied upon in lieu of specific professional advice. The Publisher disclaims all responsibility for any loss or damage which may be incurred by any reader relying upon the information contained in the publication whether that loss or damage is caused by any fault or negligence on the part of the Publishers, its Directors or employees.

COPYRIGHT All materials in this publication are subject to copyright and written authorisation from WAPU is required prior to reproduction in any form.

ADVERTISING Advertisements in this journal are solicited from organisations and businesses on the understanding that no special considerations other than those normally accepted in respect of commercial dealings, will be given to the advertiser. All advertising is undertaken in good faith and WAPU takes no responsibility for information contained in advertisements.

COVER Senior Constable Ben Geissler.

Photo: Jon Gellweiler/ JLG Photographics.

ABOVE Officers from Perth Police Station at one of this year's Light it Up Blue locations.

Photo: Jody D'Arcy.

WA

POLICE UNION

Board of Directors 24/7 EMERGENCY DIRECTOR

HARRY ARNOTT President 0407 989 008

MICK KELLY Senior Vice President & 24/7 Emergency Director 0438 080 930

PAUL GALE Vice President 0403 314 426

WARD ADAMSON Treasurer 0457 603 311

ALICIA CURCHIN Director 0417 911 502

JASON GENTILI Director 0437 417 467

KATRINA MASON Industrial Officer

KATRINA TAYLOR Industrial Officer

MICK GILL Director 0427 097 000

JON GROVES Director 0438 080 868

Staff

PAUL HUNT Secretary

CHRIS VITLER Finance Manager

6 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

STEVEN GLOVER External Media Communications Manager

JESSICA ELPHICK Media Officer

JESSICA CUTHBERT Media Officer

MARK SHIPMAN Industrial Lawyer

MATTHEW PAYNE Research Officer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

KEVIN GUY Director 0436 859 835

DEAN GIACOMINI Field Officer

MARK JOHNSON Director 0488 352 525

GRAEME MACEY Director 0436 946 699

CARL STEWART Field Officer

BRAD SINCLAIR Finance Officer

JASON MORA Director 0410 927 445

TARRYN SMITH Finance Officer

HARRY RUSSELL Director 0412 585 429

CLINT WHALLEY Director 0409 118 381

PENNY BROWN Member Services Officer

DEBORAH THOMAS Administration Officer

BRANCH PRESIDENTS Academy Tiffany McAlinden Air Wing John Gobbels Armadale-Gosnells Paul Burke Avon Dave Flaherty Bunbury Australind Gareth Reed Cannington Doug Stjepic Central Great Roy George Southern Central Midlands Jake Hendry Central West Coast Brett Cassidy Commissioned Greg Knott Officers East Kimberley Stuart Lapsley Eastern Goldfields Greg Holden

(Vice President) Eastern Wheatbelt Ben Reid Fortescue Kristen Teale Fremantle Rachel Rawlins Gascoyne Jade Shepley Geraldton Tim Saxon Great Southern Danny Richmond Intelligence Contact WAPU HQ Operations Joondalup Ben Giff Leeuwin Naturaliste Brad Walder Licencing Graeme Porteous Enforcement (Vice President) Lower South West Darren Gill

(Vice President) Major Crime Greg Hart Mandurah Harry Russell Maylands Complex Scott Sulley MFPF Peter Potthoff Midland Aaron Cleaver Midland Workshops Jeanette Maddison Mirrabooka Todd Robinson Murchison Max Walker North Eastern Carl Logan Goldfields (Vice President) North Pilbara Liam Mallinson Northern ROG Sam Brocklesby Perth Christine Frey

(Vice President) Perth Watch House Gemma Priest Professional Chris Lockwood Standards Prosecuting Branch Jason Duncan Protective Service Wade Van Luyn Office Rockingham Kwinana Richard Wells Serious & Peter Birch Organised Crime Sex Crimes Cliff Daurat South East Eyre Aaron Honey South West Matt Fogarty Hinterland State Traffic Kim Greenwood Operations Traffic Enforcement Murray Farrell Group North (Vice President) Traffic Enforcement Steve Kent Group South Upper Great Dorry Grzinic Southern WAPU Now Kareene Santoro Water Police Adam McGregor West Kimberley Michael Sedgman West Pilbara Neil Vanderplank

7 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

HARRY ARNOTT President

Police Compensation Scheme announced OUR 84TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE WILL BE FOREVER REMEMBERED FOR THE LANDMARK MOMENT the McGowan Government provided police officers with a Police Compensation Scheme.

Back in 2016, while in opposition, the Premier stood in front of our conference and committed to implementing this scheme. So, it was poignant that he returned to honour and finalise that commitment.

This scheme has been a long time coming.

Governments of all stripes have failed to find a workable solution until now.

The WA Police Union started pushing this issue back in the late 1980s and successive Boards and Executives have tried as they might but have been unable to get a scheme over the line which is acceptable to the membership.

One of the biggest sticking points has been the will of previous governments, and I might add previous Commissioners, to remove or downgrade our hard fought, existing medical entitlements.

Importantly, this scheme does NOT touch our existing work and non-work related medical entitlements.

It is a credit to the McGowan Government that they have developed a scheme which does not impact on existing entitlements.

This scheme does exactly what it needs to do – it fills the gap and provides financial support to police officers who are injured on the frontline and can never return to protect and serve our community.

8

This scheme does exactly what it needs to do – it fills the gap and provides financial support to police officers who are injured on the frontline and can never return to protect and serve our community.

Over the years, we have seen far too many good people thrown on the scrap heap and left to fend for themselves.

Some even had the indignity of being boarded out under Section 8, that same section that removes corrupt police officers.

All that stops right now.

Because of this landmark decision and changes to the medical retirement process, also introduced by the McGowan Government, medically retired police officers will now be able to honourably end their service to our community and we hope find some meaningful employment in another sector.

The Government has also committed to looking at each medical retirement on a case-by-case basis which occurs from now until the legislation is passed to ensure no one is left out in the cold.

I do hope that the Premier and Minister for Police understand just how appreciative and supportive the WA Police Union and our Members are of this new legislation.

A lot of people within Government, the WA Police Force and the WA Police Union have worked very hard to get this scheme implemented and now needs to be a time for celebration.

This achievement has been a long time coming and everyone involved can honestly say they have left an indelible mark on the health and safety of current and future police officers and their families.

Without a shadow of a doubt since this Board took office in November 2018, the number one question we have been asked: Is where is our police-specific compensation scheme?

That question has now well and truly been answered.

To our Members, your Union commits to doing everything we can to assist the passage of this vital legislation.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Premier Mark McGowan received a standing ovation at Annual Conference after announcing the Police Compensation Scheme.

The Government has also committed to looking at each medical retirement on a case-by-case basis which occurs from now until the legislation is passed to ensure no one is left out in the cold.

We will make sure the legislation is supported by the Opposition and the Minor Parties so that it can be moved through Parliament as quickly as possible to royal assent.

Representing the rights and best interests of police officers and police auxiliary officers has never been tougher but it is times like these that makes all the hard work, the long hours, worthwhile.

Thank you to the Premier for announcing the most important piece of legislation – a piece of legislation which has been a long time in the making and certainly a large feather in your Government’s cap.

No one will ever be able to take that away from you and the Minister for Police. You two are and will always be the people who recognised the plight of our Members, acted with immense compassion and righted the wrongs of decades of neglect.

Police Compensation Scheme details The proposed Police Compensation Scheme will comprise: • An Exit payment is capped at $235,971 as per the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981, made up of: ■ A permanent impairment payment. Scaled by impairment as per Schedule 2 of the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981; ■ A lump sum payment for salary continuance, up to 12 months of the officer’s pre-retirement salary; and ■ Opportunity for payment to be increased by 75 per cent to $412,949 in extenuating circumstances.

• A Payment of $16,518 for vocational support and retraining; and • Maintenance of current in-service and post-service entitlements for work-related and non-work related illness or injury.

Example ONE Medically retired officer a pre-retirement salary = $120,000 per year Permanent impairment assessment = $100,000 Exit Payment = $220,000 + $16,518 for re-training Example TWO Medically retired officer a pre-retirement salary = $120,000 per year Permanent impairment assessment = $200,000 Exit Payment = $235,971 + $16,518 for re-training The Scheme will be implemented by amending the Police Act and Police Force Regulations.

9

REGIONAL FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OFFICER RECALLS HAUNTING SCENES

BY JESSICA CUTHBERT

10 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

01

No one should have to endure the traumatic, vile and unimaginable scenes that police officers are confronted with.

Yet they do on a daily basis.

From dreadful car accidents to horrific assaults and tragedies, police officers are exposed to graphic and gruesome scenes, some that never leave their minds.

When Senior Constable Ben Geissler was called to a job in July 2012, he grabbed his uniform, loaded his forensic gear into the car and left to attend the scene.

He was working as a regional forensic investigation officer in Bunbury.

A part of being a police officer is never knowing where the day might lead you and what you might be confronted with, something Ben knew very well.

He had attended thousands of forensic tasks over the years and worked on hundreds of death incidents including homicides, infant deaths, fatal crashes, sudden deaths, suicides and human remains recovery.

What Ben didn’t know, was that this job he was called into was going to be the worst job of his policing career.

Ben told Police News that since leaving the Forensic Division, he realised how unhealthy and unnatural that level of exposure to violence and graphic death can be, especially on a person’s mental health.

He had become accustomed to fatigue, sleeplessness, nightmares, anxiety and hypervigilance and he still suffers from these things to this day.

Ben knows many other officers have been through their own traumas and hopes his story can encourage them to get help and speak about their experiences. ▷

01 Ben at the scene of a car crash. Photo: West Australian Newspapers Limited.

This is the story of a day that has imprinted in Ben’s mind.

Please be aware this story contains graphic description.

11 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

THE WORST JOB IN BEN’S CAREER

I

“… what really took me by surprise was that I was standing about 20 metres away on the street and I could smell it like I was already standing in the house.”

12 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

n July 2012, Ben had just completed his eight-hour day shift with the usual crime attendance of burglaries, stolen motor vehicles and laboratory work.

He was called in by his colleague, Senior Constable Tony Guest, who informed him that there was a 338 (Sudden Death) just outside of Bunbury and Detectives had requested them on the scene.

“It was only a brief conversation on the phone but I remember Tony dropped the line that apparently it was a pretty bad one, so like always in this job, we had no idea what we were in for,” Ben said.

“I told him I was good to go, I finished what I was doing at home, kissed the family goodbye, told my wife I will see her tomorrow and headed back to work.”

Together they packed the polilight, video camera, cameras, portable lights, body bag, torches, extra consumables, booties, paper overalls and jumpers into the car and left.

They had also decided to pack their breathing masks with canisters as Ben said they had taken into account it was going to a “bad one”.

He told Police News it was lucky they had listened to their gut instincts.

In 14 years of being a forensic investigation officer, he can recall only three times where he has used a full protective face mask and canister.

When they arrived on the scene, they met with two local uniformed officers and two detectives.

“I was made aware some months later that one of the two uniform officers was a probationary constable on his second day on the job. Fresh out of the academy he got one of the most shocking introductions to police work I have ever seen,” he said.

“On arrival the first thing that hit me was the freezing cold and the second thing was the smell. It’s a smell I have experienced many times over and one that I certainly don’t like,” he said.

“The smell of death is one you never really forget, but what really took me by surprise was that I was standing about 20 metres away on the street and I could smell it like I was already standing in the house.”

Ben said that was the first bad sign of what would soon confront them in the house.

“Death smell varies from job-to-job, but it is always disgusting.

The average person should count their lucky stars they never have to smell a decomposing body,” he said.

During a briefing with the officers and detectives, they were told local police were called to the property to conduct a welfare check as the occupant of the house hadn’t been in contact with anyone for a few weeks.

“The house was all locked up and they couldn’t get access so to save on smashing a window they got one of the local glaziers

to come and help open a window with little to no damage,” Ben explained.

“Apparently the glazier went to the front master bedroom window, managed to get the window open and pulled the blinds across.

“I was told he let out a high-pitched death scream, grabbed whatever tools he had, and ran straight past the two local coppers without saying a word, getting in his car and speeding off down the street.”

The workers reaction would soon make sense to Ben and Tony after they entered the property.

The Scene

Once the potential crime scene was accessible, the officers kitted up and entered the house.

A quick survey of the home eliminated a forced entry situation, a tick in the box towards a non-suspicious death.

“We cleared all of the living areas and bedrooms one-byone looking for areas of interest. No signs of what we call a clean-up, no obvious signs of a struggle anywhere, no damage to furniture, walls, doors, no weapons, no blood pools or projected blood stains.

“That’s when we went to master bedroom where the deceased was located.”

What confronted those officers was nothing short of a horror but is the reality police officers face daily.

“What we saw in that bedroom was a real-life horror film,” Ben said.

“This is something I can never un-see. Eight years later and I can still recall the minor details and see the images in my head, I don’t want too but I can.”

In the centre of the room, two poles had been constructed to stand above the bed. Suspended between the frame was a curtain rod with a metal chain.

Facing away from the door, a naked man was kneeling on the bed with his neck through a chain noose with wrist restraints attaching his arms to his ankles.

Although the man was Caucasian, Ben said the body had now discoloured due to the heat and decomposition.

His skin was stretched, his body was distended and there was a significant amount of bodily fluid seeping through the bedding below him.

Ben said his skin had separated away from the muscle and fat but had not yet spilt.

“He was blown up like a balloon and his bloated skin was transparent. Underneath the skin, I could see clear bodily fluids pooling,” Ben said.

“The chain around his neck was not visible at the front as the decomposing skin had surrounded it and his face appeared as though it had been melted with a blow torch.

“His eyes were swollen and black and you couldn’t make out the eyeballs. His nose was almost non-existent and had fallen off and his lips were sagging about five centimetres below where they should be. There was fluid and blood dribbling from the top of his head.

“I have seen a lot of dead people in my career in all different forms and different stages of decomposition, but I had never seen anything like this before,” he said.

This was the sight that the glazier had seen and run from. Ben said it made sense as to why the worker could not comprehend what he has seen two metres in front of him.

“It would have looked like a rotting zombie corpse in one of those gore films peering at him as he opened the window,” he said.

“Glaziers are not meant to see these sorts of things, in fact no one is really meant to see these sorts of things, are they?”

The positioning and state of the body led the officers to question if someone had done this to the man or if it had been self-inflicted.

In the room, they found countless sex toys and devices and behind the man at end of the bed was a homemade mechanical device unlike anything they had seen before.

“There were no blood patterns around the room so it was safe to say he died doing whatever it was he was attempting to achieve with the whole set up.”

After investigating the scene, it was deemed to be a non-suspicious death and that progressed the investigation to the next problem.

The Plan

After a debrief about what they had just witnessed, the officers deliberated on a plan.

“The plan was disturbing but very simple, we had to pop the bloated man so the skin wouldn’t split or explode when we moved it, then we had to somehow get it off the frame and into a body bag,” he said.

Ben had to give verbal instructions to Tony to pop the body using an aluminium spear while Tony hid behind a portable white board as protection.

“I specifically remember saying to Tony, ‘This is by far the most fucked up thing I have ever seen in my life man, this is so fucking wrong.’

After a failed first attempt the second attempt of piercing the body was successful, the air rushed out of the skin and the stench in the room was described as instantaneous and overpowering.

Ben said everything to that point didn’t even compare to the process of getting the body down and into the body bag, saying it was by far the most challenging and disgusting thing he has ever had to do in his entire life.

“A description of what actually happened cannot be printed or published in this magazine, that’s how bad it actually was that night. It is one of a hundred memories I will probably never be able to get rid of,” he said.

After nearly nine hours at the scene, Ben and Tony returned to the office.

“I threw my overalls and jumper in the rubbish bin at the office, no amount of cleaning was going to get that smell out and I didn’t need any reminders later on,” he said.

“I went home exhausted but I remember didn’t sleep well at all.”

02

03 04

“Most people will never see what I have seen, most people don’t have any idea what I actually do and should never have to do the things I’ve done.”

02 Ben at the scene of a body found in a park. 03 An Australind homicide scene. 04 A shooting in Busselton crime scene.

All photos: West Australian Newspapers Limited.

The Aftermath

Ben said it was at this point in his career when he started to assess how the job was impacting him physically, emotionally and mentally.

“I started to think about what the job was taking away from me as a person and thinking about why people do these horrific things to themselves,” he said.

“Do they even care that someone like me has to find them and deal with them? Most people will never see what I have seen, most people don’t have any idea what I actually do and should never have to do the things I’ve done.”

Ben said it was difficult to pinpoint how this particular job impacted him.

“It’s hard to know if it was this job or a cumulative effect from literally hundreds of dead people I have seen in all forms. This was undoubtably up there with the worst of the worst,” he said.

“The entire experience of that job has stayed with me above all the others. No matter how I try I will never forget what I saw and what Tony and I had to do.

“When I compare it to all of the murder victims, sudden deaths, suicides, fatal crashes, drug overdoses, workplace fatalities and all of the other horrific shit I’ve seen in 21 years, this trumps everything by far.”

Ben said one of the worst parts was coming home to his family after dealing with the heinous scenes he encounters.

“My family knew that I couldn’t and wouldn’t talk to them about specifics of what I had been doing after a long shift but I would sometimes speak to my wife about it as a form of counselling, probably information she didn’t need to know or hear either,” he said.

He said the mental and physical repercussions from this job varied. ▷ 13 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“If I have learned anything, it’s not to keep these things to yourself.

It will consume you.”

14 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“I changed within and the best way I could describe it is to feel completely emotionally numb, like I had switched off and nothing really mattered, I had little to no emotion because I felt I didn’t need it,” he said.

“I wanted to be alone more often, I was distancing myself from my wife, family and friends and I seemed disinterested in other people altogether. I was displaying all the tell-tale signs of hypervigilance, I couldn’t relax in public places and I hated places with a lot of people and still do to this day.

“Very reluctantly, I sought professional help and spoke to someone about my problems.”

Ben said he felt as though he was getting very few benefits from speaking to a psychologist, but he did follow through with a few sessions.

“I soon lost interest in the sessions and didn’t want to talk about my feelings or experiences to someone who had never seen what I’ve had to see,” he said.

“I felt as though they couldn’t possibly understand. They have never stood in a hospital mortuary looking into a body bag full of smashed up human parts from a car crash, trying to find a thumb to photograph so a body could be identified.

“Since leaving the role, one major stress I now know fuelled the problem was the 24 /7 response expectation, despite not receiving an on-call allowance. My team and I always made ourselves available and took ownership of our responsibilities. This had a massive impact on all of our personal lives and it was frequently associated with criticism from above if you weren’t available.”

Ben said he soon found that the best method for stress relief and achieving mental wellbeing came in the form of physical activity.

He continued weight training, Muay Thai and mountain biking which gave him a release from the stresses of work.

“The more I did these activities, the better I felt so I occupied my spare time with activities I liked and in doing so I started thinking less and less about work and spending more time with family,” he said.

He said the physical activity, less devotion to the job and doing fewer recalls was a personal fix to his mental state, but unknown to him at the time, the best thing was reaching maximum tenure at his specialist role and being served a letter to leave his position.

“I wanted to stay in the South West so I walked away from 14 years as a Forensic Investigator and changed my pathway. I’m now at the South West Traffic Office enjoying a new experience,” he said.

“Being forensic investigator is very rewarding and challenging, I enjoyed my time in the position but I knew it was time to move on.”

Ben told Police News that his situation was not unique with many other officers battling their own struggles.

“Every day around this State, police officers attend jobs and experience sensations that will have a lasting effect on them.

Whether it be minor or major, it all counts and it can be devastating if not addressed or at least acknowledged,” he said.

“What developed within me took years to surface and I am in no way free of it now.

“I admit that I probably did it wrong and put my family through some very trying times, so I urge people to seek professional help and look at the current situations you are in. If you are struggling speak to someone, consider a career change within this career, it is stressful to do so but can also be highly rewarding.

“If I have learned anything, it’s not to keep these things to yourself. It will consume you.”

■

2021

WAPU has produced a 2021 calendar, showcasing some of the amazing images that have been taken over the year s for Police News of our Members who have some great tales to tell.

WA P O L I C E U N ION FUNDRAISING C A LEN DA R

RAISING FUNDS IN SUPPORT OF

A perfect addition to your crib rooms and police stations!

WA POLICE UNION

2021 Calendar R AISING FUNDS IN SUPPORT OF

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J A N U A R Y January 2021 (Australia) Sun

Mon

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Tue

28

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$15 each All proceeds donate d 10

Wed

29

11

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5

6

12

13

Thu

Fri

1 New Year’s Day

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to WA Police Legacy Email admin@wapu.or g.au to order your copy today!

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School Holidays 31 finish

Senior Constable Adam McGregor and Sergeant David Flahe rty took part in “Movembe r” in 2019.

We took the opportunit y to take a photo of the two officers sporting their moustaches at the 83rd WAPU Annual Conference, all for a good cause !

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Australia Day

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In October 2017, we shared Senior Constable Steph anie Bochorsky’s incre dible story.

Steph was off duty when she ran into a home to save two child who were being attac ren ked by their father. The man had set his then three-year-old daug hter on fire and was in the process of harm his other daughter when ing Steph intervened and saved their lives.

Her sheer bravery was recognised when she was awarded the National Police Brave ry Award in 2018 for her extre me courage in the face of serious danger.

This photoshoot was for the September 2019 edition of Police News which featured office rs from the Regional Oper ations Group (ROG) and Mounted Section.

15 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

01

Twenty years on: fatal police crash’s lasting impact

BY STEVEN GLOVER

There is a bend in Rowes Road, 1.8 km south of Dandaragan Road near Moora, which changed the lives of two police families forever.

01 Kylie Jenkins.

02 An article from The West Australian showing the wreck of the vehicle.

Credit: The West Australian 03 Aaron Cleaver.

16 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

On the afternoon of Wednesday October 25, 2000, Detective Senior Constable Michael Jenkins was behind the wheel of an unmarked police car with then Constable Aaron Cleaver in the passenger’s seat. They were returning to Moora Police Station from Perth after making inquiries into a historical sex assault case.

As Michael tried to negotiate the right-hand bend on the unsealed road, Aaron remembers hearing him say: ‘oh shit’, before Michael lost control of the vehicle and collided with a large group of Banksia trees.

The result was catastrophic.

The car was sitting on its passenger side with both officers trapped inside and unconscious.

When Aaron regained consciousness, his left side was pinned to the passenger door and on his right side was Michael.

He could just move both his arms from below the elbow which was enough for him to be able to access the radio and the siren box with his right hand and move Michael’s head with his left.

“I was able to call urgent to VKI. At first, they thought we had come across a prang because they were asking how many cars and then they clicked that it is us and the radio goes crazy with VKI getting the Moora station and others,” Aaron said.

“I hit the siren box on a hail Mary that someone would hear us and as it turned out someone did.”

A local farmer was working on his paddock and after hearing the constant whaling of the siren went down to investigate and came across the police officers trapped in the mangled vehicle.

“I remember VKI asking a lot of questions, probably quite legitimate ones, but I was getting confused and annoyed and some questions didn’t make sense. I passed the handset out to the farmer and said: ‘look, can you talk to them?”

Aaron told Police News.

02

Michael, still unconscious, and Aaron were trapped in the car for a couple of hours as local volunteer fire fighters and their colleagues from Moora Police Station tried to free them.

“I was complaining of pain from the neck so I guess they had to presume the same with Mike so it was quite a delicate process, they couldn’t just drag us out,” Aaron said.

“They took us to Moora Hospital and that is when I saw Trevor Thorpe from Major Crash and Stefan Durka. I remember when I saw them at the hospital it sort of clicked – this is bad.”

Michael’s wife Kylie was waiting for her husband to arrive at Moora Hospital and not long after his arrival she received the worst possible news.

“A doctor came out to speak with me. He told me that Michael had no chance of recovery and he didn't believe Michael would make it to Perth in the ambulance. He explained that Michael had a serious head injury,” Kylie said.

There was no room in the ambulance for Kylie to be with Michael when he was transferred to Perth, so she followed in a police car. ▷

03

“They took us to Moora Hospital and that is when I saw Trevor Thorpe from Major Crash and Stefan Durka.

I remember when I saw them at the hospital it sort of clicked – this is bad.”

17 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“You do not want to put yourself through the situation where you’ve got no access to money because you haven’t filled in your paperwork properly. It was the biggest heartache not knowing how I was going to pay a mortgage and basic food bills when there was money sitting there.”

04 Aaron with his family.

05 Aaron's Police Star.

06 Aaron after receiving his Police Star.

18 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

At Royal Perth Hospital, she remembers the waiting room crowded with family, friends and police officers all rallying around and offering their love and support.

“At some stage, the doctor came and spoke to me.

He told me that not only were Michael's head injuries horrific but that he had three breaks in his spine and there was absolutely no way that he could come out of this accident alive,” she said.

“I was devastated because I had held onto a glimmer of hope that the Moora doctor had got it wrong. That was not to be.”

Michael would remain on life support for 24 hours while his organs were donated and to allow time for his family, friends and colleagues to say goodbye.

“The day after the accident, I remember walking out of intensive care into the hospital corridor to be greeted by a sea of detectives and uniformed officers. They were all there to see Michael,” Kylie said.

“The life support system was turned off and it was horrible.

I felt like I was deserting Michael. I felt so helpless because there was nothing that I could do other than to say goodbye.”

As a result of the crash, Aaron spent a few days in hospital and sustained fractured vertebrae, a broken nose, pushed in teeth, nerve damage lip, whiplash and significant bruising – he was the second last person to say goodbye to Michael.

Kylie’s life had been turned upside down in that split second on Rowes Road.

She met Michael in high school when they were 14, 15 years later, at the age of 29, Michael died leaving her and their two daughters, Teana (five) and Alyssa (18 months), behind.

After starting with WA Police Force in 1990, Michael made his mark as a detective. He started as a probationary detective with Macro Taskforce before joining Homicide and then Major Crime Squad.

Chasing more general duties detective experience, Michael, Kylie and the girls transferred to Moora at the beginning of the year 2000.

Even though he had moved on from Major Crime, his former work colleagues rallied around Kylie and the girls.

“From the time of Michael's death to the day of the funeral, I received lots of visitors, mainly detective colleagues of Michael’s, who would drop in to pay their respects,” Kylie said.

“Jack Lee came with money from the Detectives Contingency Fund. I will be forever grateful for this assistance, as unbeknown to the contingency fund members, our bank accounts had been frozen and I couldn't access any funds.

“I would like to thank the Major Crime Detectives and in particular Jack Lee who were an absolute godsend by helping me paint my home, putting up security lights, doing my garden and always offering some help if needed.”

While the Jenkins Family were overwhelmed with assistance and support from the Blue Family, issues began to emerge with Michael’s Will – it was not valid.

“After the funeral was over, the nightmare continued for me when I realised the ‘Will’ that I thought Michael had made was in fact a Will instruction sheet provided by the Union for Michael to complete and return so that a final document could be prepared for signing,” Kylie said.

Michael’s estate stood in limbo for three-and-a-half years, leaving Kylie and her girls with barely enough money to survive week-by-week.

“You do not want to put yourself through the situation where you’ve got no access to money because you haven’t filled in your paperwork properly. It was the biggest heartache not knowing how I was going to pay a mortgage and basic food bills when there was money sitting there.

“It has really hard as I had nobody except the Union and Legacy to help me financially.”

Kylie was frustrated that what she believed to be Michael’s simple Will was not recognised because it had not been fully completed.

“It was very confusing. I had no understanding of the court system in that way and it was a struggle to know what was going on,” she said.

“I know that we both thought what we had filled out was a Will but it wasn’t.

“Don’t assume, ask the questions necessary to make sure everything is finalised because you are already dealing with enough you don’t want anyone dealing with that as well.”

While Kylie battled with the issues relating to Michael’s Will, Aaron also had his own battles after the crash. He still thinks about Michael, the crash and the what ifs.

“Not every memory when I think of him is a sad one.

Sometimes they are a bit funny. Sometimes you think what if? Maybe it was a question of centimetres or if the car had side airbags. Sometimes they go through your mind, it’s not healthy but I think it is not unnatural to think of those sorts of things,” Aaron said.

“I don’t like lying on my left side when my neck is aching because it reminds me of it to this day.”

The crash has had a significant impact on Aaron’s mental health and he has been very open about his battle and does not hide away from his struggles.

05 06 04

He said while it was good to know he was not alone, it was quite sad so many of his fellow police officers were struggling.

“I think when this was starting up, it was probably as much of me not knowing that it was coming on until it overwhelmed me.

“Initially, I was worried if someone found out about my mental health struggles and it puts so much more pressure on. Now, it is not just the police to speak out but I see it in the street. I saw a car with a big sticker on the front saying: ‘It’s not weak to speak’ and I thought haven’t we come a long way where talking about our mental health struggles is not a shameful thing.

“To be open about it, some of these people will never realise that their little act of kindness is worth more than 10 grand of therapy. It is just thoughtfulness, it doesn’t need to be anything amazing even a text message sometimes is enough.

“I know there are plenty out there that are suffering and whether they have had a particular massive event or just a series of things, just get the help that would be my message.”

In November, after being knocked back on two previous occasions, Aaron was awarded the WA Police Star Medal.

The Police Star was introduced to recognise police officers who are killed, or seriously injured, while carrying out policing duties and it acknowledges the unique and unpredictable dangers of policing in the community and the sacrifices police officers make while serving the community.

While he is thankful for the recognition, Aaron is torn.

“It [getting knocked back twice] probably hurt me more than I admitted to myself. I was like yeah whatever but deep down and looking back it hurt,” Aaron told Police News.

“It is a little bit bittersweet for the memories it brings up but it is a nice recognition. Nothing is going to take the horrible memories or the injuries away or bring Mike back but it is a way he can be remembered.”

Aaron’s wife Jane, who herself lobbied for Aaron to get this medal, along with their three children attended the ceremony last month.

Aaron said he believed his children would benefit from seeing him get this medal.

“They are aware of what happened. My friend who I worked with went to heaven and sometimes they will ask a whole pile of questions because their sister is in heaven.

They will ask: ‘Do they know each other?’ things like that.

“I think there will be some value for them, they might understand why Daddy is grumpy on certain days. Whilst they are still fairly young now, in time they will understand what happened.”

Kylie is grateful that Aaron has received the medal because his whole life changed as a result of the crash. ▷

“Nothing is going to take the horrible memories or the injuries away or bring Mike back but it is a way he can be remembered.”

19 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“I think he is amazing because of his battles he is constantly fighting and at stages I didn’t realise how bad it was for him.”

20 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“Aaron was super strong to my face but I know how much he changed from being the copper I knew in Moora to the copper after the accident. He deserved this medal a long time ago and I am super happy for him for him to be finally recognised,” Kylie said.

“I think he is amazing because of his battles he is constantly fighting and at stages I didn’t realise how bad it was for him.

“In hindsight, I look back and he was super strong for me. He would take calls in the middle of the night from me, he would come over so we could hang out or go to Freo for a coffee.

“He tried to be there as much as he could when I needed him.

He was very unselfish with his time for me and my girls.”

Kylie is also grateful for the support given to her by the Union and WA Police Legacy.

“I am so lucky that the Union and Legacy have done what they did for me and I am glad that Michael was a contributing Member.

Without those two groups in my life, I’m not sure where we would have been without them.

“Jack Lee should be commended for what he did for me as well as Mike Dean, they are both on the same level as being the kindest two people I have ever met.”

On the anniversary of Michael’s death, WAPU hosted a gathering of Michael and Aaron’s close family and friends to commemorate 20 years since the accident which changed the course of two police families’ lives forever.

■

FREE ‘SIMPLE’ WILL SERVICE WAPU provides a free ‘simple’ Will Service to Members and every Member is encouraged to ensure they have a Will.

Without a valid Will, the State Government can determine how your assets are distributed and could take a percentage of your assets. In addition, your estate could take up to six months or longer to finalise, putting unnecessary financial pressure on loved ones.

A 10 per cent discount off TGB Lawyers' normal rates for simple Wills is available to family members (e.g. parents, children, grandchildren) of WAPU Members.

For more information please visit our website or contact WAPU HQ on 9321 2155 or admin@wapu.org.au

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

CONFERENCE TO BE REMEMBERED FOREVER

BY STEVEN GLOVER

The 84th WA Police Union Annual Conference will be forever remembered for the announcement of a Police Compensation Scheme by the McGowan Government.

After years of significant lobbying from the Union, Premier Mark McGowan finalised his commitment made four years earlier at the same event.

WAPU President Harry Arnott said the scheme had been a long time coming with Governments all of stripes failing to find a workable solution until now.

“Today, is a landmark moment for the health and safety of police officers and their families across our great State,” Mr Arnott said.

“This scheme does exactly what it needs to do – it fills the gap and provides financial support to police officers who are injured

on the frontline and can never return to protect and serve our community.”

Mr Arnott said it was important existing medical entitlements had not been impacted by the new scheme.

“One of the biggest sticking points has been the will of previous governments, and I might add previous Commissioners, to remove or downgrade our hard fought, existing medical entitlements,” he said.

“It is a credit to the McGowan Government that they have developed a scheme which does not impact on existing entitlements.” ▷ 21 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

“This is the latest measure we have progressed to support our injured officers, including the $16 million redress scheme and reform of section 8 for medical retirement to ensure officers' service can end with dignity.”

01 02 03

04

05 06

Premier Mark McGowan said the historic reform was long overdue and was proud that it would be delivered under his Government.

“The work that police do is unique and extraordinary. They work under extremely difficult and often dangerous conditions, and their sacrifices are appreciated by all Western Australians,” Mr McGowan said.

“It's tragic when officers are forced to retire due to injuries sustained in the line of duty. When this occurs, they deserve to compensated appropriately and that's what the new scheme will do.”

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said the scheme reassured officers and their families that the Government stands with them.

“Policing is demanding; it is stressful; it is complex and unpredictable; and sometimes dangerous.

“The toll of service can be psychological and physical, and borne by both our officers and their families.

“This scheme fulfils an election commitment and is being implemented with all current in-service and post-service entitlements for work-related and non-work related injury and illness being maintained.

“This is the latest measure we have progressed to support our injured officers, including the $16 million redress scheme and reform of section 8 for medical retirement to ensure officers' service can end with dignity.”

In addition to the major announcement, delegates debated 58 motions which will set the direction for the next 12 months.

The delegates were also engaged by presentations from Doug Brewer and Dr Mathew Samuel from the Hollywood Clinic and Associate Professor David Lawrence, who was the Project Leader for Beyond Blue's Answering the Call research project. All three experts provided a much-needed insight into mental health in policing.

Goolarri Media Enterprises Chief Operations Officer Kira Fong spoke to delegates about her high-profile Kimberley Girl Program, which she founded in 2004 designed to build confidence and capacity in young Aboriginal women.

2019 Australian of the Year Dr Craig Challen explained how his passion for cave diving saw him take part in one of the most extraordinary rescue missions when a group rescued 14 boys from a flooded cave in Thailand.

Former Senior Commissioner of the WA Industrial Relations Commission Jack Gregor regaled the delegates with some stories from his past as well as explained the intricacies of the industrial relations system.

The outcomes of all motions debated can be found on page 32.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

07

Outstanding officials recognised at conference dinner Several Members were recognised for their outstanding service and dedication to the WA Police Union at the Annual Conference Dinner on Tuesday night.

The honour of life membership of the WA Police Union has only been bestowed upon 18 Members and this year, retired Director Peter Potthoff and Finance Manager Chris Vitler joined the list.

Peter commenced at the WA Police Force Academy in October 1984 and was an active Union Member from his first day, right up until his last day.

He held many Branch Official positions over the years and in 2006 he was elected to the Board of Directors and served for 12 years.

President Harry Arnott described Chris as the heart and soul of our Union.

“Unfortunately, her efforts do go unseen by the broader membership but hopefully she understands just how much we on the Executive and Board appreciate her efforts,” Mr Arnott said at the conference dinner.

“We hope this gesture of honourary life membership goes someway to acknowledging just how much she has achieved on behalf of our Members and promoting how integral she is to our organisation.

“Without her efforts, long hours and dedication to support our Members, our head office would not function.”

Chris began her career with WAPU under Mike Dean back in 1998 as a Member Services Officer.

In addition to completing her own finance studies, she moved up the ranks holding the positions of Administration Officer, Accounts Administrator, Accountant and Finance Manager.

In 2011 she also became the Union’s first female Secretary, a position she held for two years before relinquishing the role to focus on her passion for finance.

08 09

“Without her efforts, long hours and dedication to support our Members, our head office would not function.”

01 Minister for Police Michelle Roberts. 02 Doug Brewer and Dr Mathew Samuel. 03 Associate Professor David Lawrence. 04 Dr Craig Challen. 05 Kira Fong.

06 Jack Gregor. 07 Directors and Delegates. 08 Five year Service Pin recipients. 09 Mick Kelly, Life Member Peter Potthoff and Harry Arnott.

10 Mick Kelly and Harry Arnott with Honourary Life Member Chris Vitler.

10

Union Of ficials were presented their five-year WAPU Service Pins recognising their dedication to the WA Police Union.

These service pins recognise the hard work of Directors and Branch Officials as our representatives on the ground.

Well done to all Members who received their pins: Peter Birch – Serious & Organised Crime Branch Brett Cassidy – Central West Coast Branch Matt Frankel – West Pilbara Branch Aaron Honey – South East Eyre Branch Kirsten Morrow – Joondalup Branch Jade Shepley – Gascoyne Branch Scott Sulley – Maylands Complex Branch David Swain – South West Hinterland Branch 23

■

POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

84th Annual Conference Dinner Sponsored by Fleet Network

TUESDAY 24 NOVEMBER ESPLANADE HOTEL, FREMANTLE

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Light it Up Blue O

n National Police Remembrance Day, September 29, 2020, we remembered the fallen police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.

To highlight the importance of this occasion, the WA Police Union again arranged for several buildings and landmarks around the State to be illuminated blue in honour of our fallen brothers and sisters.

It was great to see new additions join in the tribute this year. Council House was a standout on the night, shining bright blue on St Georges Terrace.

The South Perth Foreshore also looked spectacular with some blue lights, as did the Seven West Media building in Osborne Park.

In the regions, Karratha Red Earth Arts Precinct shone blue as did Albany’s iconic Brig Amity and Town Square.

WAPU President Harry Arnott said the visual tribute was an important reminder of the service and sacrifice of our police officers and a fantastic way to remember them.

“There is no day more important than when the community gathers to honour the sacrifice of the Blue Family. Our police officers put their lives on the line every day dealing with traumatic situations and violent crimes,” he said.

“It is important we remember those who never made it home.”

■

“Our police officers put their lives on the line every day dealing with traumatic situations and violent crimes. It is important we remember those who never made it home.”

26 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

27

RE LIF FE T-O RE U NC T E

GUIDE TO Property Allowance You may be eligible to apply for a property allowance if you are being transferred either between:

metropolitan

regional

regional

due to; • The public interest; • Ordinary course of promotion or transfer; or • Illness or injury due to causes outside of your control.

SALE OF A PROPERTY IN A FORMER LOCALITY To apply for a sale of a property, the following criteria must be met: • When you received your notice of transfer to the new locality you either: ▶ Owned and occupied the property; or ▶ You were purchasing the property under a contract of sale providing for vacant possession; or ▶ You were constructing the property to reside in permanently on completion.

• You sold the property after the transfer notice was issued; • You sold the property within 12 months of taking up duty in the new locality (in exceptional circumstances, the Employer may agree to a reasonable extension); and • The property was within 50 km of regional headquarters, or within the metropolitan area (as defined in clause six of the IA) if stationed in the metropolitan.

metropolitan

regional

regional (> 50 km)

You are not eligible to apply if the transfer is solely at your request (compassionate transfer); or due to misconduct; or where the transfer is only within the metropolitan area.

PURCHASE OF A PROPERTY IN A NEW LOCALITY

(following sale of a Property in a former locality) You can apply for the property allowance for the purchase of a property, or land to erect a residence upon, in your new locality (where you are eligible for the property allowance for a sale of a property in your former locality) for the purpose of residing in permanently.

The following criteria must be met: • You have claimed, or are eligible to claim, the property allowance for a sale of a property in your immediate former locality; • The property purchased is within 50 km of regional headquarters, or within the metropolitan area (as defined in the IA) if stationed in metropolitan; • The property was purchased after the transfer notice was issued and within 12 months of taking up duty in the new locality (in exceptional circumstances the Employer may agree to a reasonable extension of the 12 months).

This guide has been developed to assist our Members with determining their entitlement to apply for a property allowance under clause 21 of the industrial agreement (IA).

PURCHASE OF A PROPERTY ONLY (with no sale in a former locality) The Employer may approve the payment of a property allowance for a purchase of a property (where you have not sold a property in your former locality) if they are satisfied that it was necessary for you to purchase a residence or land, to erect a residence upon, in the new locality because of the transfer from the former locality.

This is at the discretion of the Employer and we recommend you seek advice from our Industrial Team before submitting a claim for a purchase only.

WHAT EXPENSES CAN BE CLAIMED? Real estate agent commission and applicable GST – to a maximum of 50 per cent or the amounts specified in the IA (whichever is the lesser); Legal/professional fees paid to a solicitor or settlement agent (capped at a maximum amount, refer to IA); Disbursement and sundry fees (e.g. postage) payable to a solicitor or settlement agent; Stamp duty;

Fees paid to the registrar of titles or similar, including search and registration; Expenses relating to the execution or discharge of a first mortgage; Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) fees; Landgate fees; and Reasonable expenses for advertising a sale of a property where a real estate agent was not engaged.

OWNERSHIP – SOLE, JOINT OR IN COMMON You must be able to prove ownership of a property to be eligible to apply for a property allowance by being listed on the certificate of title.

If the property is owned jointly or in common with your partner, or dependent relative, or partner and dependent relative, the property allowances, where eligible, still apply in full.

If the property is owned jointly or in common with another person (not specified above) then you are only entitled to be reimbursed the proportion of expenses for which you are responsible.

If more than one employee jointly sells or purchases a property, each employee shall only be reimbursed the proportion of expenses for which the employee is responsible.

For further information contact the WAPU Industrial Team on 9321 2155.

WA

POLICE UNION

MICK KELLY

Senior Vice President WA Police Union

Embracing new technologies for safer policing POLICE OFFICER SAFETY has always been and will continue to be a major priority for the WA Police Union.

In the previous edition of Police News, an article appeared on the topic of digital policing and how it positively impacts officer safety and capability.

This article further expands on the new technology and mobile apps available to every police officer on their OneForce phones.

For safety and situational awareness, we encourage police officers to use the OneForce Locate app on their workissued mobile phones. If an officer requires assistance in the field, backup can be sent directly to the phone’s GPS location on a map in real time.

This function has already proved to be a beneficial tool and has been used in several land search operations.

In December last year, just days after receiving his work phone, a canine handler found himself in a situation where his location was needed quickly.

In dense bushland outside of Broome, he and other officers were conducting a search for a stolen motor vehicle.

The officers involved had their work phones set up ready to go with their location details using the app.

Throughout the search, the officer had requested that his location was monitored and when he needed officers to attend his location, they arrived within minutes with no directions needed.

Having your colleagues know your coordinates when out in the field provides security for all officers on duty.

Since the implementation of these cameras, crucial footage and evidence has been captured showing our Members and the public in real time. This has helped with issues of transparency and reduced minor complaints against our people.

30 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

It is important to reiterate to our Members that WA Police Force does not use this app to track police officer movements, this is purely a safety tool.

Members can turn their GPS status off and their phone cannot be tracked. The app will automatically log you off and after 10 hours you will receive a notification which will allow you to keep it turned off or on if needed.

Whilst using the app and having your GPS switched on is not mandatory, it is encouraged.

It is our understanding that future layers on this app will show locations for CAD jobs in the previous 24 hours, linked IRs, CCTV locations, OMCG linked houses, PPOs and firearm owners. We encourage our Members to embrace the use of these additions.

We also strongly recommend our Members to activate their BWC’s when responding to tasks. Since the implementation of these cameras, crucial footage and evidence has been captured showing our Members and the public in real time.

This has helped with issues of transparency and reduced minor complaints against our people.

We h av e b e e n advised that the new app, NearMe4Cops will soon be accessible on your work-issued phones, increasing f ur t h e r s af e t y in the field.

This app has been on trial in parts of the Great Southern and stations around Perth and Kalgoorlie.

NearMe4Cops enables officers to view on a map, incidents that have occurred within a selected area span of 100m to 500m.

FIELD REPORT

For example, when attending a job, officers could search the offence history at a particular location, view the location of all CCTV cameras in the area, search for family violence domestic incidents, the activity of prolific offenders, outlaw motorcycle gang member locations or the location of firearm license holders.

Officers will also be able to use their OneForce phones to select items of interest from a number of WA Police Force systems.

For example, when attending a job, officers could search the offence history at a particular location, view the location of all CCTV cameras in the area, search for family violence domestic incidents, the activity of prolific offenders, outlaw motorcycle gang member locations or the location of firearm license holders.

New technology has and is continuing to change the way we police, making it safer and more efficient in the workplace.

We encourage our Members to embrace the new technology which is available at the touch of a button.

* WAPU SCHOOL HOLIDAY BALLOT APPLICATION APPLICATIONS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED ON THIS FORM, It can be emailed or posted to the Union office.

Complete and return by Friday 22 January 2021 to: WA Police Union 639 Murray Street, West Perth WA 6005 Email: admin@wapu.org.au

Only mark the holiday periods and locations you are prepared to accept in numerical order of preference.

Note: Bookings are available from Saturday (2pm) to Saturday (10am) only.

WEEK 1 25.09.21 – 02.10.21

Results to be advised by Friday, 29 January 2021 Name (Please Print):

ALBANY

PD No:

BUSSELTON VILLA 4

Address (Home):

BUSSELTON VILLA 11

OCTOBER 2021 WEEK 2 02.10.21 – 09.10.21

EITHER WEEK

BUSSELTON VILLA 15 Post Code: Work (Unit/Section):

Email (Home): Phone no. (Work): (Mobile):

BUSSELTON VILLA 23 ESPERANCE EXMOUTH PORT DENISON YALLINGUP POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

WA POLICE UNION 84TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE MOTIONS ON NOTICE EXECUTIVE REPORTS

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

That the President’s Report be accepted.

Moved: Harry Russell CARRIED

Seconded: Jon Groves

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT That the Senior Vice President’s Report be accepted.

Moved: Jason Mora CARRIED

Seconded: Kevin Guy

SECRETARY’S REPORT That the Secretary’s Report be accepted.

Moved: Mick Gill CARRIED

Seconded: Graeme Macey

Explanation Many years ago the WA Police Force was a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and as such was able to train its employees (everyone no matter the rank) to a level that was nationally recognised, and certificates were provided upon successful completion of training.

Being an RTO placed minimum requirements on the training that was provided to staff. The WA Police Force did not renew its RTO status, what would be assumed to be for financial reasons.

It now appears that the only employees eligible to training/education to a nationally minimum standard are that of senior sergeants and above, who are in management roles, and those officers who are not interested in being promoted to a management position are left to participate in sub-standard training (i.e. bastardised first aid rather than the nationally recognised Senior First Aid and driving assessments (which is a practical ability) being assessed by a computer course – Blackboard) Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

TREASURER’S REPORT

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

That the Treasurer’s Report be accepted.

2.2 MIRRABOOKA BRANCH Moved: Harry Russell CARRIED

Seconded: Clint Whalley

1.0 CORPORATE

1.1 MIRRABOOKA BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to amend the police union constitution so that a majority vote on pay offers is accepted by a majority of greater than 50 per cent of the Members who vote on the motion.

Explanation With the voting on the current EBA 63 per cent of the Members who voted were in favour of accepting the offer. The number of people who voted was the highest of any vote on a pay offer. Yet it did not reach the 65 per cent required. If people do not care enough to vote their vote should not be counted. They have not taken the time consider the issue so their vote should not be considered as being against the offer.

Moved: Todd Robinson LOST

Seconded: Mark Johnson

2.0 INDUSTRIAL

2.1 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to plan to have the WA Police Force re-registered as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO).

32 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations an amendment to Section 35 (1) by replacing 40 hours per calendar year with 200 hours per calendar year to provide required care or support due to: • An illness, injury or issues associated with the birth of a child.

• An emergency affecting a family member.

Any leave more than 40 hours per year will require a letter from a medical practitioner or aligned profession to detail the person cared for cannot care for themselves or vulnerable people in their care.

Carer’s Leave is (“not” is removed) accumulates at 40 hours per year where it is not used.

Explanation The wife gives birth by caesarean section. The partner falls fractures a leg.

The family have several other children and no support network in WA. The medical practitioner advises the wife or partner cannot care for themselves or the family. The other partner has to step up taking care of the family using all their annual leave. Running a family is a full-time job for two adults. One career is hard work and I salute the people who are in this situation every day. But it is not a holiday.

The aging population. There are several officers who must juggle their careers and elderly parents. They care for them at home. There are visits to medical and aligned practitioners to have the condition diagnosed before any services begin. As the age increases, they can easily use a year’s annual leave trying to address all the issues.

Most other civil service awards (civil service employees working for police) have a provision making carer’s leave cumulative in the award.

There are provisions to allow additional leave at OIC discretion. This discretion results in widely varied outcomes. When it is in the award it must be granted.

Moved: Todd Robinson CARRIED

Moved: Michael Sedgman CARRIED

Seconded: Mick Gill

2.5 GREAT SOUTHERN BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to direct the Commissioner of Police to review the paying of a heating subsidy for officers serving in the south of the State.

Seconded: Steven Kent

2.3 WEST PILBARA BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations an entitlement to allow officers who have suffered a legitimate work-related injury/illness their 'Shift Penalties' and '44 Shifts' as posted on the Posted Roster in which the injury/illness occurred.

Explanation Currently as it stands, an officer can be rostered where they are entitled to 'Shift Penalties' or a ‘44 shift’, where should they be injured or become sick due to a work-related injury/illness they are no longer entitled to their ‘Rostered Shift Penalties’ or ‘44 Shift’ for the remainder of Posted Roster.

This can amount to anywhere up to $1000 being penalised for putting themselves in harm's way.

Example One: An officer was indecently assaulted whilst effecting an arrest of an offender. Understandably the officer is off on sick leave and now misses out on afternoon shift penalties and a 44-hour shift (estimated $800 financial hit for the remainder of the posted roster).

Example Two: An officer broke their wrist after being assaulted and whilst attempting to arrest the offender. The officer required time off duty to recover and received a financial detriment from the lack of shift penalties and no 44hour shifts as a result of a serious injury sustained in the workplace through no fault of their own.

Moved: Matt Frankel CARRIED

The Members believe a further day should be approved, so as a thorough clean of the residence can be completed prior to departure and vacate inspection.

GROH in general tend to be pedantic when it comes to WA Police which in turn causes our Members further stress when vacating.

Explanation In line with the air conditioning subsidy paid to officers in some locations, a similar subsidy to be paid for officers in area that are subject to low temperatures. For example, Narrogin and Katanning regularly in the winter have night-time temperatures down to or below zero degrees. Seek a review of a workable solution to identify a means to classify which areas or stations would benefit for a subsidy or allowance.

Moved: Daniel Richmond CARRIED

Seconded: Kirsten Morrow

2.6 INTELLIGENCE SERVICES BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations to have Trade Union Training Leave (TUTA) (as per clause 45 of the Western Australia Police Industrial Agreement) to a maximum of five days per calendar year included in Covert Allowance - Clause 17, (17)(d) of the Award.

Explanation Covert Allowance - Clause 17, (17)(d) of the Award does not currently include Trade Union Training Leave (as per clause 45 of the Award). This in effect means any Intelligence Services Branch WAPU Member who applies for and is granted TUTA leave on the WA Police Force SIMR system are financially disadvantaged depending on the relevant allowance allocated to their position.

An example being, in 2018 an Intelligence Services Branch WAPU Member had $335.50 deducted from their ordinary fortnightly wage for taking 16 hours of TUTA leave to attend a union training event.

Seconded: Aaron Honey

2.4 WEST KIMBERLEY BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations an additional cleaning day when on transfer.

Explanation It is the current policy that whilst on transfer you are entitled to a one pre-pack day, one uplift day and are then expected to leave your outgoing residence and follow your household goods upon departure.

The current exclusion of TUTA leave from Clause 17, (17)(d) of the Award is manifestly unfair to Branch Members and discourages Members from undertaking union delegate training. If members are reluctant to undertake union training due financial disadvantage, then it is difficult for the current Branch committee to plan succession and have new Members nominate for the committee after they are forced to resign due to tenure restrictions and transfer.

This Branch motion does not seek any financial increase in Clause 17, (17)(d) of the Award. The Branch is seeking the inclusion only of TUTA leave to avoid losing income already allocated and accounted for by the WA Police Force.

Moved: Robb Witt CARRIED

Seconded: Rachel Rawlins 33 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

2.7 NORTH EASTERN GOLDFIELDS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to request the Commissioner of Police pay for lease exit fees for Members, who are transferring from a metropolitan location to a regional position.

Explanation Members who are renting are at a disadvantage whilst in a fixed term residential lease, as they cannot transfer for a regional position without breaking their lease. This often results in break-lease fees usually amounting to several hundred dollars. This can be a deterrent for those considering regional postings.

Moved: Carl Logan CARRIED

By increasing this allowance, it would allow officers to be more comfortable whilst recuperating in the comfort of their own homes.

Moved: Michael Sedgman CARRIED

Conference directs the Board of Directors to request the Commissioner of Police subsidise electricity costs in the Goldfields during winter as well as summer.

Explanation The average winter (low) temperature in the Goldfields is six degrees. This is five degrees colder than the Perth metropolitan (low) average. It is not uncommon for the temperature to drop below one degree for several days at a time, resulting in exorbitant electricity bills for Members.

Seconded: Aaron Honey

2.9 EASTERN GOLDFIELDS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to assess the suitability of current methods for assessing whether regional locations attract an air conditioning allowance.

Explanation Currently police stations in the southern part of the district do not attract an air conditioning allowance yet others which may only by 200 km away do.

A lot of GROH houses in Kalgoorlie have evaporative air conditioning systems that are expensive to run and do not cope with humid days.

Moved: Greg Holden CARRIED

September average temperatures

BROOME DERBY HALLS CREEK FITZROY CROSSING KUNUNURRA High 32 36 34 36 37 Low 19 19 20 17 20

Seconded: Todd Robinson

2.8 NORTH EASTERN GOLDFIELDS BRANCH

Moved: Carl Logan CARRIED

May average temperatures

BROOME DERBY HALLS CREEK FITZROY CROSSING KUNUNURRA High 32 33 30 32 33 Low 18 19 17 15 19

Seconded: Aaron Honey

Seconded: Daniel Richmond

2.11 GREAT SOUTHERN BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to remove maximum tenure for officers based at locations, subject to satisfactory performance, in regional locations where there is no maximum tenure for uniformed officers (Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Northam).

Explanation Currently detectives and other specialist positions such as prosecuting serving in regional locations are subject to maximum tenure, even in locations where uniformed officers are not. Where officers wish to remain in these locations beyond their maximum tenure, they are forced to seek alternative positions within that location. The reasons for extended tenure in Regional WA can be for a wide range of reasons, including family, personal and professional reasons.

Currently these officers are at a disadvantage within these regional locations.

Forcing officers to seek a different position within that location can lead to a decrease in morale as officers are unable to continue to work within Regional WA in their chosen field, meaning they are unable to pursue further professional development without leaving the location.

There would still be a natural turn-over of staff from these locations as not all officers wish to remain in Regional WA for long periods of time, as some officers would still seek to return to Perth for both personal and professional reasons.

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to increase the air conditioning subsidy for the Kimberley Region from six months to eight months.

Amending the Tenure Policy at these locations would provide fairness with tenure being applied equally and allow for specialists to remain in their positions. This has the additional benefit of greatly increasing their local knowledge and intelligence when conducting investigations, providing for better outcomes to the local communities.

Explanation Currently the subsidy runs from the beginning of October to the end of April, it is a known fact that it is extremely warm for most parts of the year.

It is submitted that any issues relating to corruption prevention would apply equally to both uniformed and specialist officers and therefore fall away given the lack of tenure for uniformed officers.

Shift workers are disadvantaged as they are required to rest/sleep during the hottest times of the day. The average temperatures in the Kimberley in May and September are as follows:

Moved: Daniel Richmond CARRIED

2.10 WEST KIMBERLEY BRANCH

34 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Seconded: Jason Mora

2.12 TEG SOUTH BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the State Government to increase meal allowances in line with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts.

Explanation The current allowances set down in the Industrial Agreement are limited and often insufficient to cover the cost of a reasonable meal and refreshment. With increasing costs and officers being far more conscious of healthy eating, the allowances are regularly not sufficient to cover the cost of a healthy meal and drink. The department has a policy where officers must make purchases on corporate card when travelling for work and these allowances should reflect those costs. The Australian Taxation Office sets out a table of reasonable allowances and our IA should reflect this.

Explanation At present detectives can do a maximum of eight years within a portfolio (for e.g. State Crime) whereas non-detectives (i3) are limited to a maximum of four years. This policy treats detectives more favourably with respect to tenure within a portfolio and is not equitable.

For example, an i3 serves three years at SOMS and wishes to transfer to CAIT or another section within State Crime. The i3 is limited to one more year before having to transfer out completely of State Crime. Detectives can transfer in various sections for eight years within that portfolio.

Moved: Cliff Daurat CARRIED

Seconded: Jeanette Maddison

2.15 GERALDTON BRANCH Extract of ATO Table below:

FOOD AND DRINK ($) INCIDENTALS ($) Perth breakfast 28.15

lunch 31.65

dinner 53.90

20.05

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to provide for a period of extension upon completion of maximum tenure for detectives, subject to satisfactory performance. It is proposed that the period would be two periods of two years, subject to district office approval, in regional locations where there is no maximum tenure for uniformed officers (Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Northam).

WA Police Industrial Agreement Travel not involving an Overnight Stay or Travel Involving an Overnight Stay Where F11 Accommodation Only is provided WA - South of 26' South Latitude Breakfast 16.30 Lunch 16.30 Dinner 46.50 Supper 26.36

Explanation Currently detectives serving in regional locations are subject to maximum tenure, even in locations where uniformed officers are not. Where officers wish to remain in these locations beyond their maximum tenure, they are forced to seek alternative positions within that location. The reasons for extended tenure in Regional WA can be for a wide range of reasons, including family, personal and professional reasons.

WA - North of 26' South Latitude Breakfast 21.20 Lunch 33.20 Dinner 52.20 Supper 35.53

Currently detectives are at a disadvantage within these Regional locations.

Forcing officers to seek a different position within that location can lead to a decrease in morale as officers are unable to continue to work within Regional WA in their chosen field (investigations), meaning they are unable to pursue further professional development without leaving the location.

Moved: Steven Kent CARRIED

There would still be a natural turn-over of staff from these locations as not all officers wish to remain in Regional WA for long periods of time, as some officers would still seek to return to Perth for both personal and professional reasons.

Seconded: Jason Mora

2.13 MANDURAH BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors lobby the Commissioner of Police to abolish tenure.

Explanation The current Tenure Policy is inconsistent, unfairly applied throughout all districts and is used in place of an acceptable and appropriate management performance tool. All other policing jurisdictions in Australia do not have a tenure policy and this style of management performance in not acceptable in contemporary policing.

Moved: Dayna Rigor CARRIED

Seconded: Mark Johnson

2.14 SEX CRIMES BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to ensure a consistent, fair and equitable tenure policy for ALL police officers.

Amending the Tenure Policy at these locations would provide fairness with tenure being applied equally and allow for detectives to remain in their positions for an extended period of time. This has the additional benefit of greatly increasing their local knowledge and intelligence when conducting investigations, providing for better outcomes to the local communities.

It is submitted that any issues relating to corruption prevention would apply equally to both uniformed and detective officers and therefore fall away given the lack of tenure for uniformed officers. Any concerns of this nature are more likely to be detected locally and can be addressed by the relevant district officer through declining an application for tenure extension.

Moved: Tim Saxon CARRIED

Seconded: Daniel Richmond

35 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

2.16 SEX CRIMES BRANCH

2.20 AVON BRANCH

Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations an increase to the penalty rate to the public service equivalent for police officers working on a weekday public holiday.

Explanation Penalty rates for police officers and police auxiliary officers (PAOs) working on weekday public holidays are minimal and do not adequately compensate officers who work Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Easter and other major public holidays. An officer working day shift on a public holiday Monday would get the base hourly rate whilst a public service employee would get 2.5 times their hourly rate.

Moved: Cliff Daurat CARRIED

Seconded: John Escobar

2.17 MIDLAND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to allow TOIL (Time Off in Lieu) to accrue shift penalties that would apply if time were worked.

Explanation If working a 10-hour afternoon shift, two hours TOIL is taken thereby finishing at eight hours, only the one shift penalty unit is being applied, not the 1.25 penalty unit that would normally be received.

Moved: Narelle Kiddey LOST

Seconded: Tim Saxon

2.18 MIDLAND WORKSHOPS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors lobby the Commissioner of Police to introduce an allowance for officers rostered to work a shift on Christmas Day. Explanation Police officers are often required to work Christmas days, causing them to be away from their families on what is, for many, an important day for family, festive or religious significance.

Moved: Jeanette Maddison CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

2.19 AVON BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to amend the current policy relating to Optical Re-imbursement, to include prescription sunglasses.

Explanation The current policy reimburses Members with half the cost of reading glasses and contact lenses to the value up to $220.00, but not for sunglasses. Given the increased need to read phones and screens in vehicles, prescription sunglasses should be included in the scope of the policy.

Moved: Dave Flaherty CARRIED

36 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Seconded: Paul Burke

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police, and the State Government, for an immediate increase of base salary (five per cent) or additional leave for all Members (one week), given the massive productivity gains benefited by the WA Police Force and Government with the introduction of mobile phones and other appliances providing access to “work” and reflecting the “work” undertaken by Members when off duty.

Explanation Canvassing of Avon Branch Members showed 90 per cent of Members access, read and action emails from home whilst off duty. Whilst Members are repeatedly advised not to do this and to maximise their down time, the majority respond by explaining “It is just a way of life now”. This way of life needs to be recognised by the WA Police Force and Government and our Members suitably compensated.

Moved: Dave Flaherty LOST

Seconded: Harry Russell

2.21 WEST KIMBERLEY BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to provide opportunity for Members to salary sacrifice mortgage repayments.

Explanation As far as Members are aware it is the current policy for officers to be permitted to salary sacrifice, motor vehicle, computer, superannuation and union fees. Currently people working for not for profit institutions and nurses are provided the opportunity for this to occur. Our Members are seeking the same opportunity as those employees who are in similar working environments.

Moved: Michael Sedgman CARRIED

Seconded: Steven Kent

2.22 SEX CRIMES BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to increase the detective’s allowance to a rate that is more in line and contemporary with the higher investigative standards expected of them, the seriousness and complex investigations they undertake and their responsibilities.

Explanation Currently detectives are paid a standard Investigators Allowance irrespective of their investigator’s level (i4, i5 or i6) or where they are based.

Moved: Cliff Daurat CARRIED

Seconded: Rob Witt

2.23 MIDLAND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations a simplification to the Forensic Qualification Allowance (FQA) clauses and wording, Section 17(12) to something similar to 17(14) (Internal Affairs and TRG, flat 10 per cent), i.e. staff conducting forensic duties and/or under the direction and control of the Forensic Division, including all current sections, country and metropolitan district forensic investigation offices, holding a qualification determined

to be required within forensics, be paid the FQA without further barriers.

Further the forensic qualifications shall be on an accessible list and include all previous versions of the qualifications.

Explanation The Forensic Qualification Allowance (FQA) worked easily until 2014 where it was decided to start using the wording of the current clause to begin stripping Members of the hard-earned allowance. It currently takes a minimum of four years before you can even apply for the allowance, assuming you have managed to get the qualification in that time. As it currently stands, depending on which office/position you hold in forensics, you may or may not get the allowance.

It has become very convoluted (it has its own Intranet page on the Employee Relations Page) and allows for nil certainty. It has essentially become a barrier as an incentive to further study and can be stripped by moving staff to another position, with no stated method of regaining the allowance.

Forensic Division has lost some senior Members to outside agencies, whose experience and qualification will take years to rebuild.

The employer’s discretion to decide who gets it and who does not has boiled down to a senior sergeant, who even on record during industrial relation court, admitting his reasoning was wrong, and his decision stands to this day. Even an office listed on their intranet page as an office allowed the FQA, was determined to have no staff allowed because of its listed position descriptions. Currently every new commissioned officer appointed to forensics (usually every two years) can upset a long chain of training, including university degrees.

Further limiting of the FQA “boundaries” means those going to all of the most shocking scenes throughout WA as their day-to-day job have on “golden handcuffs”. Even if they know they should perhaps change their jobs for a period, i.e. move to a different section or to a metropolitan forensic office, they currently stand to lose their 10 per cent allowance. From a mental health perspective, this gives a sense that they cannot move without fear of loss of income.

It has also become apparent that the entire basis for who gets the allowance has become untenable. Those doing the least forensics and attending the least scenes, such as senior sergeants and sergeants are being paid whilst the constables (district forensic investigation offices) are not. Thus, in the district forensic offices, it has become an allowance based on rank rather than forensic duties.

It smells and looks like wage theft and it is technically legal only because of the final clause allowing the employer to have final say over who is entitled.

This is unethical, bad work practice and leads to a general sense of being ripped off by the employer.

Moved: Narelle Kiddey CARRIED

Seconded: Jason Mora

2.24 SEX CRIMES BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations an increase in bereavement leave to one week (or seven days).

Explanation Currently bereavement leave is capped at three days. This is simply inadequate of a grieving period when a Member is dealing with the loss of their loved ones as well as organising funeral and managing belongings left by the deceased.

Three days is also insufficient for the Member to travel interstate or overseas.

Many Members are from overseas (mainly UK) and face a 20-hour flight just to get to their destination. The COVID-19 pandemic has now severely impacted travel overseas with quarantine periods. Recently a Member who had lost a parent in the UK did not have any annual leave left and was forced to take leave without pay to travel to the UK and deal with the loss of the parent.

Moved: Cliff Daurat CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

2.25 MIDLAND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to apply the Country Deployment Allowance {17. ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES (16) Country Deployment Allowance} currently available to sworn officers, to PAOs. Explanation PAOs attached to Homicide Squad who deploy to Regional WA with their teams are exempt from a Country Deployment Allowance. Custody PAOs relieving or seconded due to community events are also exempt.

Homicide/Custody/Organised & Gang Crime/PRESS Country Courier Service would be impacted.

17. ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES Country Deployment Allowance Employees temporarily relieving or deployed to undertake operational duties within Regional WA and away from their Headquarters will be paid an allowance of $20 per day, up to a maximum of $100 per week in any 7 day roster period (Monday to Sunday) in the following circumstances: for each day spent relieving, which requires that they reside away from their usual place of residence; or for each day spent on deployment for operational duties from their Metropolitan Area Headquarters to Regional WA which requires an Employee to reside away from their usual place of residence in the locality they are deployed.

Moved: Narelle Kiddey CARRIED

Seconded: John Escobar

2.26 JOONDALUP BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the WA Police Force to change roster patterns to lump together the same shift type instead of changing shift types each week.

37 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Explanation The effects of shift work on the body are well documented with shift work proven to reduce a person’s life span by at least 10 years. Long-term night shift work is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, as well as metabolic problems, heart disease, ulcers, gastrointestinal problems and obesity.

It is documented that after two days of a certain shift type the circadian rhythm starts to adjust.

One of the major issues surrounding the WA Police Force shift work is the constant changing sleeping and eating times constantly so the body is always lagging behind trying to adjust constantly in stress with an unstable circadian rhythm.

Options to create a more stable circadian rhythm is by either lumping together shift types or introducing the two days, two afternoons, two nights roster.

Within the Joondalup District small station rosters, the roster changes each week from day shift to either afternoon or night shift and then back to day shift.

Instead of changing the roster type each week, introduce a new roster, lumping together the day shift weeks and the late shift weeks therefore reducing the adjustments required by the body helping to reduce the known harm to the body. The amount of day shifts and late shifts remain the same however it creates a more stable circadian rhythm reducing the detrimental effects of shift work on the body.

Alternatively introduce a roster pattern of prolonged rotation, example four weeks of one shift type before changing to the next. Example four weeks of day shift, four weeks of late shifts (two weeks of night shift, two weeks of afternoon shift.) The amount of each shift type remains the same over a year, it is just done in a way to reduce the harm on the body and create a more stable circadian rhythm.

This reduction in the changing between patterns each week will assist Members with sleeping, with eating healthy, with maintaining regular exercise and will help invigorate and energise.

It will reduce sick leave as the body will be under less stress and less trauma allowing the immune system to fight bugs more effectively.

Members will be able to have a more stable circadian rhythm from the reduced changes in patterns.

It will help our Members’ health, physically and mentally and create a happier more productive agency benefiting everyone.

Moved: Kirsten Morrow LOST

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police introduce a re- imbursement for gym memberships.

38

Other specialist units (TRG for example) can physically train during office hours and are also able to claim their gym memberships as a tax deduction to the required level of fitness they are required to have.

Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

2.28 FREMANTLE BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to create an attraction allowance for Fremantle Police Station and Perth Police Station, to attract first class constables and senior constables to the station.

Explanation The Fremantle Police station, situated in the Fremantle Police District, regularly advertises vacant positions, yet gets no applicants. Ultimately, the positions are filled by newly graduated probationary constables; and probationary constables throughout the district are being made permanent at Fremantle Police Station, as they have no choice in the matter.

At any given time, there are vacancies at Fremantle Police Station. At its worst in recent times, there were eight vacancies, all of which were filled at the same time by newly graduated probationary constables.

Across the seven tasking teams, there are 44 probationary and junior constables at Fremantle (with less than five years’ experience), balanced by only four first class constables and nine senior constables. This is completely disproportionate and leaves the junior officers without the appropriate support, leadership, and mentorship they desperately need.

There have been instances where the shift supervisor and senior constable on the same team are on leave, training or in meetings, leaving a third- or fourthyear constable as the most senior officer on shift. This poses a significant risk to those officers and places an unfair burden of responsibility on the junior constables.

The non-police purpose-built facilities at Fremantle (the complex is in an old bank), the bottom heavy rosters, the regular vacancies, the lack of parking for personal vehicles and the entertainment precinct are genuine reasons that Fremantle often gets no applicants for their vacant positions.

An attraction allowance, specifically targeted to first class and senior constables would be an incentive to attract those much-needed officers to Fremantle Police station, and currently there is no incentive to work there.

Seconded: Harry Russell

2.27 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH

POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Explanation The operational needs of police officers require a level of fitness to perform their duties, i.e. running after offenders, jumping over fences etc.

Moved: Rachel Rawlins LOST

Seconded: Daniel Richmond

2.29 EXECUTIVE Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations recognition of past periods of acting in higher duties roles when being promoted.

Explanation Currently when an officer is promoted they commence at the base increment for that higher rank, irrespective of the increment of their current rank or how long they may have acted into a role at the higher rank.

When a person is promoted elsewhere in the WA Public Sector there is a convention to recognise significant periods of acting at a higher level by way of commencing them at an increment level higher than the “base increment” when promoted.

For example, a public servant employed at Level 4, who has acted as a Level 5 for a period of 12 months in the past 18 months, could be appointed at Level 5.2 when promoted instead of starting at Level 5.1.

Applying this practice for police officers would be equitable. It would also provide a more appropriate starting salary for an officer who has successfully demonstrated their capability at that higher rank for a period of time.

Moved: Graeme Macey CARRIED

Seconded: Max Walker

2.30 SERIOUS AND ORGANISED CRIME BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to abolish the contribution of any period of paid or unpaid parental leave to positional and divisional tenure where an officer is transferred to a temporary holding position as a result of the parental leave.

Explanation Currently when an officer commences parental leave for a period exceeding four months (whether paid or unpaid) policy HR-14.07.05 directs that they can be transferred to a temporary holding position. If transferred to the temporary holding position the officer relinquishes their current position and are transferred to a temporary holding position at the commencement of the parental leave and any other leave taken in conjunction with the parental leave. At the completion of the period of parental leave the officer is required to return to work and they are required to apply or negotiate for positions. If the officer receives a position back at the same spot or within the same portfolio all of the officers paid parental leave whether taken at half pay or otherwise and the first 12 weeks of unpaid leave is then counted towards both their positional and divisional/district tenure period. As soon as an officer is transferred to the temporary holding position their vacated spot can be advertised and filled and they are not physically present at a work location so it is incomprehensible that any of that period can count towards an officer’s tenure period. The application of this policy is discriminatory towards officers taking more than four months parental leave and it could be argued that the principles of the policies are in contradiction to the intent of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA). The following policy differentiations detail how the intent of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) may be in contrast, by differentiating the time frames between both unpaid parental leave and unpaid leave and transferring officers to a temporary holding position to facilitate parental leave and other “absences from the workplace”.

• HR-14.07.05 Placement in Temporary Holdings – “If they are expected to be absent from the workplace for a minimum of six months and there is a corporate/operational requirement for their usual function to be performed.”

• Parental Leave Temporary Holdings – “Each district/division has a dedicated Parental Leave Temporary Holding Unit and may apply for an officer to be placed in that unit, where the period of unpaid leave (or half pay equivalent) exceeds four months.”

• HR-14.07.1.1 Tenure – “Tenure will be treated as cumulative in the following circumstances: During periods of leave, with the exception of the following circumstances where the period of leave does not count towards tenure:

o Unpaid parental leave exceeding 12 weeks.

o Leave without pay exceeding two consecutive weeks (fourteen consecutive calendar days).”

An officer absent from the workplace for any reason other than parental leave has another two months prior to the transfer to the temporary holding position. An officer taking unpaid parental leave as opposed to unpaid leave has 10 weeks extra counted towards their tenure period. Both for no other reason than the fact that they are taking parental leave. Further, the policy is not family friendly and disadvantages officers taking time away from their career to attend to family responsibilities.

Moved: Peter Birch CARRIED

Seconded: Kirsten Morrow

3.0 LEGAL

3.1 BUNBURY AUSTRALIND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the State Government and the Commissioner of Police to seek an amendment to the mandatory sentencing legislation for assaults on police to include mandatory prison sentences for offenders who spit or cast any bodily fluid on police.

Explanation There appears to be an increasing trend of assaults on police involving offenders spitting, casting blood or both on police officers. Whilst the Branch acknowledges the intervention of mandatory disease testing to provide officers with ease of mind, there needs to be greater deterrent effect on offenders to discourage this disgusting and barbaric act. Most Members canvassed found the thought of being spat on or having blood cast upon them more serious than being injured through a physical assault.

Moved: Stephen Dixon CARRIED

Seconded: Scott Sulley

4.0 OPERATIONAL

4.1 EXECUTIVE MOTION Conference directs the Board of Directors to write to the Premier of WA to call upon the Prime Minister and Governor General of Australia to announce the award of the National Emergency Medal to all WA police officers and staff in service for a minimum of period of two weeks during the COVID-19 National Human Bio-Security Emergency.

Explanation The world is currently in the grip of a Global Health Pandemic. Australia’s Prime Minister Morrison has stated: “life is changing all around the world.

This is a once in a hundred-year event. We haven’t seen this sort of thing in Australia since the end of the First World War”.

39 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

On Monday 16 March 2020, WA Police Force Commissioner Chris Dawson, as State Emergency Coordinator, recommended to the WA Premier and Emergency Services Minister that a State of Emergency be declared, under the Emergency Management Act. This was approved by the Minister, declaring both a State of Emergency as above, and a Public Health Emergency under the Public Health Act.

Since its inception, the Medal has been awarded to over 15,000 recipients in recognition of sustained service during a variety of State and Commonwealth (national) emergencies, such as drought, flood, bushfire and cyclone.

This move was mirrored by several other Australian States and Territories, including Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

As recently as 26 January 2020, Prime Minister Morrison announced that the Medal would be awarded to the Fire, Police, Ambulance and Emergency Services Personnel and Volunteers, along with Defence Force Personnel, for their service and sacrifice during the recent bushfire emergency that affected so many States and Territories.

On Wednesday 18 March 2020, Prime Minister Morrison advised that the National Cabinet “noted that Commonwealth, State and Territories were implementing Emergency Powers under respective legislation.”

On Thursday 19 March 2020, Premier McGowan stated: “We need to work together during this time of crisis and … we value our Police Officers and the incredible work they do!”

Further, Prime Minister Morrison advised that “the Governor General has accepted the Commonwealth Government’s recommendation that he declare a Human Bio-security Emergency under the Human Biosecurity Act…”

The WAPU Annual Conference calls upon the WA Premier, Prime Minister and Governor General, to unequivocally show their respect, recognition and support for WA police officers and Staff by announcing the award of the National Emergency Medal.

Of note, a State or Commonwealth emergency declaration lasts (on each declaration) for a maximum period of six months. Subsequent periods require further declaration (which has now eventuated).

Since then, there have seen sweeping and drastic measures introduced across the State and Commonwealth, including the closure of Western Australia’s borders, all in effort to curb the spread and effects of this global health pandemic.

WA police officers and staff; along with Emergency Service Personnel, Health Service Personnel, Teaching Staff (State/Catholic/Independent), and Prison Officers; have already made great personal and family sacrifices to provide these emergency and essential services, and they will continue to do so.

WA Police Force officers and staff have been at the forefront of these efforts, demonstrating Care, Duty, Integrity and Teamwork in their ongoing commitment to the WA Community – especially its most vulnerable members.

This commitment has already seen officers directed to conduct increased public order patrols in and around key services such as shopping centers, in a bid to calm the panic, frenzy, and at times violent behaviours. WA Premier Mark McGowan stated: “Police presence was designed to bring order to the aisles and that officers would not hesitate to intervene to stamp out aggressive behaviours. If people are going to break the law, I’d expect people to be arrested.” These actions and responses will only intensify.

The National Emergency Medal (the Medal) was established by Her Majesty The Queen in October 2011. The Medal is an operational service medal which recognises significant or sustained service to others in a nationally significant emergency.

The Medal is awarded to members of identified organisations or individuals who rendered a minimum duration of service during specified in specified places in response to nationally significant emergencies within Australia (sustained service).

40 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Moved: Jason Mora CARRIED

Seconded: John Escobar

4.2 PROTECTIVE SERVICE OFFICERS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to pursue as part of the 2021 Industrial Agreement negotiations to implement a recognition of years served promotional program for PSOs/PAOs to assist in retaining valuable members of the WA Police Force and their experience which in turn will save the organisation significant resources.

Explanation The program would work similarly to the police rank structure where you gain chevrons and pay increases for the time served. This would bring the WA Police Force in line with other police organisations within Australia such as the APF PSOs, Victoria Police PSOs and the NSW special constables.

Moved: Wade Van Luyn CARRIED

Seconded: John Escobar

4.3 NORTH EASTERN GOLDFIELDS Conference directs the Board of Directors to request the Commissioner of Police to consider shorts as a uniform item for use in summer months.

Explanation Temperatures in the Northern Goldfields average 36 degrees during summer days. It is not uncommon to have several weeks with temperatures above 40 degrees. With the weight of accoutrements and vest now amounting to roughly 12 kg, there is a greater likelihood of heat exhaustion and other related problems. The option to wear shorts would increase the comfort of members and reduce the possibility of dehydration.

Moved: Carl Logan LOST

Seconded: Matt Frankel

4.4 GERALDTON BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to immediately issue an additional set of ancillary items for body armour to all operational Members.

Explanation In the heat of summer, the overt carrier will need to be changed and laundered at least weekly. This is around a 30 to 60-minute changeover process to move pouches from one to vest to the other which is not able to be performed in work time. Taking home accoutrements for changeover is risky. Having a second set of pouches would ensure changeover is a couple of minutes at most.

Moved: Tim Saxon CARRIED

Seconded: Mick Gill

4.5 FREMANTLE BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to conduct contemporary research and look at implementing foldable rigid handcuffs for Members.

Explanation The current rigid handcuffs are a one-piece rigid piece of equipment that takes up too much space on an officer's person and are too difficult to manoeuvre and apply in all situations.

Officers would like the Agency to explore the use of foldable rigid handcuffs, which take up half the space of the current cuffs and are more practical to apply i.e. Hellweg 850 oversize folding rigid handcuffs.

These would be a suitable compromise between the old sat-lock cuffs and the current rigid cuffs and are an affordable product.

Moved: Rachel Rawlins CARRIED

The Branch’s suggestion is that the WA Police Force investigate the option of a lightweight windbreaker style jacket which would be small enough to put in a kit bag and offer protection from the rain and wind whilst still being thin enough to wear under your vest while remaining able to perform all your duties and reach all your accoutrements.

Our second option would be a lightweight water-resistant fleece which will offer resilience against the wind without restricting your comfort, is thin enough to be worn under your vest without restricting your movement while performing your duties. This could replace the current jumper offered which many Members find to be uncomfortable and impractical in the current modern policing environment.

Having these options over the current ones on offer will enable officers to be fully protected from the varying weather that WA has while still being able to wear the vest on top and conduct our duties without the uniform becoming a hindrance which it can currently.

Moved: Kirsten Morrow CARRIED

Seconded: Steven Kent

4.8 JOONDALUP BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to review all FTEs and staffing deployments across the State.

Seconded: Daniel Richmond

4.6 FREMANTLE BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to issue a tactical illuminator on all police issue firearms.

Explanation A significant portion of Members’ duties are performed during the hours of darkness. For safety reasons, officers require a light source for their firearms for use during the hours of darkness; compromising officers' shooting position to hold a torch as well as a firearm isn't conducive to effective and safe shooting.

Moved: Rachel Rawlins CARRIED

Explanation With the introduction of body armour, it has become increasingly apparent that the current wet weather jackets are not fit for purpose. Both jackets on offer are too thick and restricting to be worn with the newly issued body armour and are too thick to be worn under the vest due to the vest being custom fitted. If worn over the top, Members will be unable to wear them properly and zipped up. The only current alternative option is to order a jacket many times too large and this causes safety issues surrounding accessing of accoutrements.

Seconded: Tim Saxon

4.7 JOONDALUP BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to review the current issued foul weather gear and investigate a more suitable alternative.

Explanation We have identified that on several occasions stations within the Joondalup District are unable to put a vehicle on the road, and often at best can only put one vehicle out despite being at full FTE. This is partly due to a lack of consideration given to the allocation of long-term non-operational staff impacting rostering ability but also the lack of consideration given to the management of front counter and lock ups in 24-hour stations.

These increased demands take officers off the road which increases the risk to Members and diminishes the ability of Members to provide an effective service to the public. After the 2020 Reform, metropolitan stations lost on average 16 per cent of staff. This issue becomes even more apparent during incidents of officers requiring back up, when often the closest available back up vehicle in the metro area could be 20 to 30 minutes away.

Whilst the Joondalup Branch appreciate that this is a short time compared with many regional locations this is unacceptable. We also suspect that this issue is not limited to the metropolitan area and feel that the current FTE allocation needs review to properly reflect district demands and officer safety.

Moved: Kirsten Morrow CARRIED

Seconded: Harry Russell 41 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

4.9 CENTRAL WEST COAST BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to recruit additional officers to resource the Perth entertainment precinct.

Explanation The current plan to take officers from other sub districts is only a stop gap measure and leaves those areas vulnerable when officers are redeployed, and the use of recall or continuous overtime will only fatigue officers if done for long periods.

Moved: Brett Cassidy WITHDRAWN

Seconded:

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to ensure that a suitable replacement is available for operational use in police vehicles before the decommissioning of TADIS. Explanation Despite the CAD app itself being useful while outside the car, the current solution of mobile phone devices for use within the vehicles is unsuitable, unsafe and do not permit officers to maintain situational awareness when en route to jobs in a vehicle.

The small text size and keys make it extremely difficult to read the text and update jobs accordingly, and it does not have availability to easily scroll up and down through the text updates. Most people stated they had to return to the station to update jobs after attendance.

Additionally, people have complained of headaches, sore eyes and necks from looking down, motion sickness and nausea causing them to be less productive throughout the shift.

Numerous people have experienced ongoing log in issues (logged with business apps) making it impossible for them to even read a job prior to arrival causing obvious safety issues and impacting the response at initial arrival.

The firm view is that the phone should not be a permanent solution to TADIS within the cars and that the phone as a permanent solution will significantly degrade our outputs Seconded:

4.11 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to revisit and review the process of receiving a CAD job, to the vetting and then dispatch of those jobs and the structure of those units involved, with a view of possible decentralisation back to the districts, i.e. District Control Centres (DCC).

Explanation Under the old District Control Centres (DCC) model, the districts had direct control over the CAD jobs in their areas and frontline operational staff had a direct point of contact.

42 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

As the DCC’s had direct ownership over the jobs in their areas, there appeared to be more of a concerted effort to have these jobs resolved over the phone rather than sending a police vehicle.

Moved: Paul Burke WITHDRAWN

Seconded:

4.12 EASTERN GOLDFIELDS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to provide medical staff in Regional WA police station lock ups.

4.10 CANNINGTON BRANCH

Moved: Doug Stjepic WITHDRAWN

Staff now are confused to who they need to contact, the District Operations Sergeant, State Operations Command Centre, Police Communications or Task Vetting Unit.

Explanation Police officers are regularly conveying arrested persons to medical centres multiple times in one custody episode due to ongoing health concerns.

With the increasing focus on prisoner welfare, it is not uncommon for arrested persons to be conveyed to the local hospital for assessment prior to admission in the lockup. This places an additional burden on the response times as it takes at least two officers off tasking duties until the medical assessment can be completed at the hospital.

Officers at Kalgoorlie Police Station will conduct a health assessment where the arrested person will advise they take regular prescription medication.

Moved: Greg Holden CARRIED

Seconded: Mick Gill

4.13 WEST KIMBERLEY BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to request a change to the current tattoo policy within the Commissioner’s Uniform and Appearance Manual.

Explanation It is the current policy as of 2019 that officers with tattoos on their fingers/ hands/neck and face need to cover up after being reviewed and deemed not appropriate.

Every Member affected by this new policy feels that it should only be directed at new recruits with the standard being set from the outset, along with serving officers not being allowed to obtain tattoos in these areas after the policy was put in place. This should not be directed at officers who already have tattoos in these areas as the previous policies only stipulate that there not be tattoos only on the face.

Moved: Michael Sedgman LOST

Seconded: Daniel Richmond

4.14 GREAT SOUTHERN BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police and State Government to significantly increase the numbers of secure vehicles for arrested persons in the WA Police Force fleet.

Members are also being used as security guards where transport orders were issued and then the patient was conveyed by mental health staff to the hospital from a private residence. The expectation was that police would wait until the patient was admitted and secured; however, the transport order had effectively ceased.

Explanation Currently, the WA Police Force have a set number of secure ‘pod’ vehicles for transporting arrested persons. This number has been set in consultation between the WA Police Force and the State Government.

Moved: Stephen Dixon CARRIED

Seconded: Dayna Rigor

4.16 BUNBURY AUSTRALIND BRANCH Current advice is that individual stations must swap vehicles with other stations who do not require secure vehicles if they wish to acquire more secure vehicles. Many small stations do not have secure vehicles allocated at all.

Alternatively, individual stations if they can source an estimated $50,000 from within their tight budgets they can change to secure pods. Despite this the budgets do not have this money spare and there are still limited numbers of actual secure pods.

COVID-19 has highlighted further OSH issues with vehicles and the risk of disease transmission. As a result, the Commissioner of Police has issued and instruction that all arrested persons will be transported in secure vehicle and not in passenger vehicles. This is impractical given the lack of these vehicles.

As another example and I am sure there are many like this across the State.

On 28 June 2020, Albany police who have two x secure vans went to a series of disturbances (not an uncommon occurrence in any regional centre or larger town) on Stirling Terrace, Albany whereby numerous persons were arrested, placed into secure vehicles, only to be unarrested to make room for other arrested persons who were behaving more violently.

Other persons under arrest and resisting were forced to be held down on the ground handcuffed for several minutes whilst prioritising the security and behaviour of all arrested persons and ongoing disturbances. This places the safety of the arrested persons and police at greatly elevated levels of risk; it can also risk inflaming other members of the public. George Floyd comes to mind and the resultant anarchy.

Moved: Daniel Richmond CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to create a Mental Health Co-Response Unit in the South West region.

Explanation The number of mental health-related and welfare tasks being experienced by officers in the South West, particularly Bunbury and Busselton, has blown out of proportion to the ability to effectively deal with the volume of tasks. There are many instances where all tasking vehicles are ramped at the Bunbury Hospital waiting on mental health assessments. The establishment of a Mental Health Co-Response Unit would reduce the need to wait at the hospital for assessments, relieve tasking vehicles and generate better outcomes for mental health patients.

Moved: Stephen Dixon CARRIED

Seconded: Mark Johnson

4.17 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police and State Government to determine services provided by police which do not fall in line with core functions and to develop response from the appropriate Government Department.

Explanation The pillars of policing state that our core functions are: “To Prevent Crime, Manage and Coordinate Emergencies and Enforce the Law”.

Too often police are being called on as a one stop shop and are attending jobs that do not fall under these core functions. Such as being a de facto security guard at hospitals, babysitting juveniles, dealing with persons who are suffering from a mental health issue. These tasks take police officers from doing the job they are employed to do.

4.15 BUNBURY AUSTRALIND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to seek clarification around when our duty to remain expires when transporting mental health patients under transport orders.

Explanation Members feel they are being used as security officers by hospitals when transporting mental health patients on transport order forms in regional WA. In many instances, the hospitals have not arranged security guards or suitable accommodation for the patients once they come into custody. Where does our duty end – the transport order only requires us to transport the person to the facility mentioned. At what point in the admissions process is our duty to remain resolved?

We propose a survey to establish which tasks fall out of the scope of our core functions be conducted and the relevant departments be made to take a more proactive role in providing a 24-hour response to tasks that are not core police functions.

Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

4.18 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to implement that an officer must be a minimum first class constable before being eligible to apply for a specialist position such as detectives, forensic, ROG, canine, mounted, TRG and others.

43 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Explanation It is important that those officers who aspire to go to specialist units have the required experience, skills and authority to perform those roles. This can be established by these roles not being available until after having served at least five years of frontline policing. By this time, they should have the relevant skills and decision-making ability to perform the role adequately.

Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

Seconded: Kirsten Morrow

4.19 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to implement a bridging course for Priority One drivers to upskill them to Priority Pursuit (Evade) standard.

Explanation Evade / pursuit driving is a necessary skill which has been difficult to acquire for many officers and evade incidents are becoming more prevalent. Since the implementation of Priority One driving, there are officers who have the necessary skills and would only require a short bridging course of a week or so to upgrade their skills. This would ensure that there are more qualified drivers without the need to run a full three-week course.

Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

Moved: Daniel Richmond CARRIED

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

5.0 WELFARE

5.1 JOONDALUP BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to introduce mandatory counselling through Member’s choice of psychologist following a certain number of critical incidents.

Explanation Mental Health check-ups are just as important as any physical health checkup and should be treated no differently to getting a skin check, cancer check or visiting a physiotherapist.

Awareness surrounding PTSD, mental health and suicide is not enough, one of the main things people often say after the suicide of a colleague, friend or loved one is they didn’t know the person was struggling and they wished they reached out.

The WA Police Force have a systemic culture issue surrounding mental health and seeking assistance or ongoing maintenance (check-ups) regarding mental health making it extremely difficult for members to come forward to seek assistance.

Seconded: Tim Saxon

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to roll out tyre deflations devices to every operational police vehicle and additional training for officers.

Introducing mandatory counselling to Members helps remove the stigma surrounding mental health appointments and removes the onus of the individual or supervisor identifying there is an issue. It also removes any anxiety a Member may have about their friends and colleagues knowing they are seeking assistance when everyone must have an appointment after they have accumulated the points.

Explanation The Agency does not have a pursuit resolution strategy other than the police helicopter, which is an unreliable resource due to weather, maintenance, pilot/crew hours, CASA regulations and other operational needs.

Isn’t it better that individuals who are travelling well get help that is not needed rather than individuals who do need help get nothing and continue to fly under the radar? How many of our Members must take their own life before something is done to help.

Moved: Paul Burke CARRIED

The mandatory counselling can be arranged by a points system, for example after accumulating 20 points the Member must attend an appointment with a psychologist with either a WA Police Force psychologist, one through the external provider Converge or Member’s own choice of private psychologist.

4.20 ARMADALE GOSNELLS BRANCH

Seconded: Dave Flaherty

4.21 GREAT SOUTHERN BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to direct the Commissioner of Police to not support media ridealongs that do not include police interactions with all community groups.

Explanation In the current climate of honesty and openness with regard to police interactions with groups within the West Australian communities, and this coupled with the use of media to portray a particular view of the police. That we as members should not support media interaction of the ‘ride along documentary’ that do not show all interactions that police in WA deal with on a daily basis. To exclude a particular group portrays a slewed and inaccurate image to the general public that watch these programs. For example, The Force or Kalgoorlie Cops.

For our Members to cooperate in a one sided or biased view of policing does a disservice to all Members.

44 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Example of how points could be allocated: Regular Sudden Death – Two Points Second Sudden Death in seven days – bonus - extra two points Third Sudden Death within seven days – bonus - extra four points Sudden Death of a juvenile – Five Points Victim of an assault (Assault P.O) – Two Points Victim of an assault with injury (Assault PO serious) – Five Points Sudden Death of an infant – 10 Points Fatal Car Crash – 10 Points Murder First attender – 15 Points Police Shooting – 20 points Moved: Kirsten Morrow CARRIED

Seconded: Max Walker

5.2 ROCKINGHAM KWINANA BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to establish protocols on how permanently and temporary non-operational staff are deployed within the WA Police Force.

Explanation Non-operational officers have varied reasons and medical conditions that have made them non-operational, there is no category that would fit all non-operational staff.

Each officer is managed by a medical expert external to the WA Police Force.

Often officers are required to continuously explain their medical condition, to non-medical staff, when they are instructed to undertake different duties to their normally agreed role.

This can cause embarrassment and stress to the non-operational officer, as they must explain why they cannot change their roles. Some of these medical injuries are not necessarily always physical but rather mental health issues.

The medical boundaries of employment should be managed Health, Welfare and Safety Division with agreed specified work tasks. Any change of workplace or role that is not related to tenure, should be done in consultation with the officer and Health, Welfare and Safety Division.

Moved: Richard Wells CARRIED

Seconded: Christine Frey

5.3 FREMANTLE BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to urgently seek a safe and affordable parking facility near the current Fremantle Police Complex situated on High Street, Fremantle.

Explanation The Fremantle Police Complex is situated on High Street, Fremantle, in what was supposed to be a temporary measure when the previous police station closed in 2013. Completion of the new police complex in Fremantle is still at least two years away. Currently, the only parking that has been made available for police employees working out of the Fremantle Police Complex is located at Captain Munchies, approximately 850 metres away.

The carpark is outdoor, not covered, not enclosed, not secured and not patrolled by security. Police personnel are trusting their vehicles to be left in the open and hope that they are not broken into whilst on duty.

Of greater concern is the safety of our Members. The Fremantle CBD has inherent safety concerns due to the night life and associated alcohol consumption, and related disorderly behaviours, assaults and the like.

The walk takes an able-bodied person in appropriate weather conditions approximately 10 minutes to navigate. The walk can take up to 20 to 30 minutes for employees with physical disabilities.

In 2020 there have been at least three incidents where off duty police officers have been abused and/or assaulted walking either to or from their cars, and have specifically been targeted because of their occupation, as well as officers' vehicles being broken into whilst they are at work. It is unsafe to expect our officers to walk 850m in the hours of darkness, often alone, with

no accoutrements and no security assistance, and the only resolution to this issue would be to secure closer, safe and secure parking for all Members based at Fremantle until the new police complex is completed.

Despite the promise of a new police station in Fremantle, this is still approximately three years away, and staff need this parking made available for that interim period.

Moved: Rachel Rawlins CARRIED

Seconded: Jason Mora

6.0 GOVERNMENT REGIONAL OFFICER HOUSING (GROH) 6.1 WEST KIMBERLEY BRANCH

Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to lobby GROH to improve response times to requests by tenants on repairs to properties.

Explanation Members are currently experiencing significant delays in the time taken to have repairs completed after submitting fault sheets to GROH. These delays have a significant impost to officers and their families when time frames are not met.

An officer with a young family made a complaint about the number of rats that were living in a large palm trees on his property. His young children were unable to play in the rear yard as it was unsafe and hazardous to their health to be around the tree which was covered with rat faeces. It took nearly two years for this complaint to be dealt with.

Moved: Michael Sedgman CARRIED

Seconded: Aaron Honey

6.2 CENTRAL MIDLANDS BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the State Government to institute a rent freeze for all GROH properties.

Explanation GROH rents are in some cases higher than private rental market rents.

To attract and retain police officers, GROH rents should not be increased.

Moved: Jake Hendry CARRIED

Seconded: Kirsten Morrow

6.3 MIDLAND BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to apply Regional Incentives/Subsidies/Allowances (including access to free or subsidised GROH Housing) currently provided to police officers to also be provided to police auxiliary officers.

Explanation As recently evidenced in the delay of filling the Custody Band 2 vacancies at Kununurra, South Hedland and Carnarvon Police Stations.

Moved: Narelle Kiddey CARRIED

Seconded: John Escobar

45 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

6.4 GERALDTON BRANCH Conference directs the Board of Directors to lobby the Commissioner of Police to include a vacate clean in the rent price for officers in GROH houses or to give officers an additional two cleaning days as part of their move from GROH housing.

Explanation Rent has increased for officers in GROH houses in previous years, but officers have not been given anything in return for the rent increase. In some areas, GROH rent is not much more than renting privately.

Moving out of a GROH house and moving to another regional town or back to Perth is stressful enough. The up-lift day occurs, and you are left cleaning your house but are required to be on the road the next day usually leaving you less than four to five hours to clean your house.

If you are transferring anywhere were it requires more than a one day drive you need to be on the road the next day and spending all night cleaning then becomes a fatigue hazard.

Cleaning your own house also means you are required to transport items including but not limited to vacuums, mops, buckets, rags, pressure cleaners and cleaning chemicals in your own vehicle which makes it very difficult if officers have a family and or pets to take with them.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, cleanliness is very important a standard of cleanliness which is set and carried out by professionals in all towns so officers knew that when they were leaving or moving into a GROH house they had no worries about the cleanliness of the property.

If professionals were to clean officers GROH houses and issues were to arise it would be up to GROH and the professionals to make sure the house was at the required standard and could prevent the officers having claims made against them for cleaning below standard.

Moved: Tim Saxon CARRIED

Seconded: Aaron Honey

Once you have left your house it is unknown if there are any issues or if the cleaning is satisfactory, even if you get private cleaners and it is not satisfactory, you are still expected to sort it out or you get billed where in normal circumstances you should be given satisfactory time to rectify any issues.

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www.wapu.org.au admin@wapu.org.au POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Mick Kelly

EMERGENCY DIRECTOR

WAPU

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I’m facing an investigation – What should I do?

ONE OF THE MOST STRESSFUL times of a police officer’s career is when they are facing a criminal or disciplinary investigation. However, it is important for Members to know that the WA Police Union and Tindall Gask Bentley Lawyers are here to assist.

Generally speaking, as a subject officer, you should be informed of the nature of the allegations against you and whether they are criminal or disciplinary, or both.

Ultimately legal advice is just that; advice. The final decision on how you plead to the charge and mount your defence is your decision.

Once you are aware of the nature of the investigation, you are entitled to ask for more detail. For example, what it is alleged you have done, to whom and when, as well as seek legal advice.

In the first instance, you should contact the WA Police Union Emergency Director explaining the type of accusation made and providing them with any paperwork supplied by the investigating officer. The Union will explain what assistance is available and the process you need to go through to access it.

At this stage, it is not advisable to discuss what you say about the allegations in any detail, regardless of the seriousness of the allegation.

Should your matter fall within certain parameters, you will likely find you are contacted by a lawyer with an invitation to meet in-person to fully discuss your matter. For regional-based Members, this meeting usually occurs via secure video-link.

When saddled with a complaint and stood aside from duty, it is understandable to feel a great amount of stress and difficulty in carrying out your duties.

Members may feel the desire to talk to other police officers about their issue, which is understandable as they are more likely to understand the pressure of being under investigation. However, care needs to be taken, and discussions should be about the process and what you're feeling, rather than your evidence.

This is for several reasons.

F ir s tly, the integr it y of the investigation needs to be respected, and care needs to be taken in dealing with potential witnesses.

Secondly, there may be directions given by investigators or line managers about discussing the matter under investigation.

Thirdly, your colleagues can be compellable and, unlike your discussions with a lawyer, conversations you have with colleagues are unlikely to be covered by legal professional privilege. It is important to keep connections with work colleagues and allow them to provide you with moral support, but just be careful about discussing your evidence with them.

If you are charged with a criminal offence, your lawyer will review the prosecution evidence, meet with you to discuss your evidence, give you blunt and honest advice, and provide you with options.

Ultimately legal advice is just that; advice. The final decision on how you plead to the charge and mount your defence is your decision. A lawyer acts as a risk manager, ensuring you are aware of the risks and likelihood of success or failure of the various options open to you and enabling you to make a fully informed decision on how to proceed.

When a Memb er submit s an application to WAPU for financial and legal assistance, the application is considered pursuant to WAPU Constitution Rule 11.6.

If the matter is work-related, your lawyer will prepare a merits report to assist the Legal Committee and Board of Directors to determine the scope and quantum of the assistance that might be provided.

The wheels of justice do turn slowly, and sometimes, when you are the accused waiting for trial, it can feel like they've fallen off.

The backlog of cases in the court system has been exacerbated this year

by COVID-19. It is not uncommon for cases to take 12 to 18 months to come on for trial, and Members are often stood down or stood aside during that period.

During that time, it is important Members keep in contact with their lawyer to ensure trial preparations are on track, keep in touch with the Union for moral support and avail themselves of the various psychological and support services offered by Health, Welfare and Safety Division. Keeping connections with work colleagues is also important, subject to any bail conditions and ensuring the integrity of the legal proceedings is not compromised. With all dealing other than with your lawyer, it is prudent to not discuss what you say about the allegations but stick to the procedural aspects, such as when your next court hearing is and how you're travelling.

When your matter eventually does come to trial, it will take place in the Magistrates Court, District Court, or Supreme Court, depending on the nature of the charge. In all these courts, you have the full rights of a criminally accused person, such as the right to disclosure from the prosecutor and to subpoena evidence, the right to cross-examine witnesses, the right to give evidence in your own defence, and the presumption of innocence.

It is important for you to know that regardless of the charge and the court, our team from Tindall Gask Bentley Lawyers and the WA Police Union will be there to support you and get you 49 through this.

POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

KYM ZANDER

HEALTH

Retired Police Officer and Police Health Member

The family organisations supports Zym and Chris FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, Police Health has always been a part of our family, from when I joined the job in the early 1970s.

… we had one of the highest recommended physicians, we had one of the best experts at the hospital, we had this microbiologist who was doing the germ analysis and everything else, yet we paid nothing.

Kym Zander image supplied courtesy of the South Australian Police Journal

50 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

Luckily, during our early years we didn’t have a lot of claims to make, just little claims on extras benefits, births of the kids and stuff like that. It wasn’t until my wife Chris retired from nursing in the early 2000s that the years of wear-and-tear caused her to need a major back operation. That was our first experience. Since then she’s had two hip replacements and a knee replacement.

The beauty, I found, about our private health is that while other people were going on about how much it costs, that they couldn’t get the specialist they needed, they couldn’t get the medical support, they couldn’t go to the hospital they wanted, and they had long waiting times... Well, we went straight to a specialist. We were seen and guided through the process when it mattered, when we needed to make decisions about Chris going through with the operations.

The big claim, and I think this is where we realised how Police Health is such a benefit to us, was in January 2019 for the second hip replacement.

The journey started out the same way as the first hip replacement. Technology is great, though, so this time, they were making a custom hip joint for Chris which would be designed to fit her actual hip and minimise the effect of what could happen. We thought that was great! Unfortunately, at the end of the day, this was the start of our horrifying journey.

The operation itself went really well and on discharge we said: ‘Is there any gap or any fee?’ and the girl in accounts said: ‘No, you’re with Police Health, you’re in a good health fund you have no gaps or fees to pay’, and we walked out and said: ‘Gee, that’s a really good feeling!’

Anyway, we were having a wonderful time until about 13-14 days post-op when my wife woke up in the early hours of the morning with extreme pain in her hip. Rather than going to A&E and sitting there for the next 10-12 hours we rang up our specialist and he said come straight into the hospital.

There were no external indications of infection, but blood tests showed Chris was in a very advanced stage of sepsis and was immediately admitted to the ICU. The news we were given was that if we hadn’t walked into hospital that day, Chris would have been dead because the sepsis was so far advanced.

It was a lengthy process of trial and error to kill the infection, with Chris in and out of theatre and ICU. She had the normal specialist who did the hip operation, another specialist who was like the advanced physician type of thing, and another, I called him a ‘germologist’ as a joke, but I think he was a microbiologist, because they were trying to work out what the bug was.

Finally, doc tors sug gested a temporary hip made out of a compound of very high strong antibiotics to target and kill the germ. This would be a nonweight bearing, restrictive movement hip. We discussed our options and decided to go ahead.

We were going okay until she got out of bed one day and slipped, they took an x-ray and found that the temporary hip had bent and twisted.

The specialist offered two options: continue the current treatment or move to a rehab centre. We sat on it for about a week or two, and she was having blood test and all these other tests, and you can’t help thinking, you know, what’s the cost of all this?

Everybody kept on saying it’s about quality of life, it’s about getting on top of your medical condition. Don’t worry about all the cost and everything else.

But every night I’d go home and wonder.

Finally, doctors decided Chris’s body was strong enough for a permanent hip joint to be inserted.

So, it was back into theatre, back into ICU for three or four days, back into a ward and because of her journey the recovery was a bit longer, so we had a longer stay in hospital. I think all up it was January, February, March and towards April, and one of the things that was on our mind as we walked out was: ‘What’s this going to cost?’. Well, the girl in accounts said: ‘There’ll be no charge’.

We looked at it; we had one of the highest recommended physicians, we had one of the best experts at the hospital, we had this microbiologist who was doing the germ analysis and everything else, yet we paid nothing.

So once things settled down, out of interest I thought I’d go into Police Health and look at the claims and the costs. We got into three figures.

Continued on page 54

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POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

NEW MEMBERS

NEW MEMBERS TAKE PART IN BIGGEST SUPER GRADUATION The WA Police Force welcomed 119 new police officers to the Blue Family in November.

In the second super graduation of the year, Recruit Courses Grey 01/2020, Red 02/2020, Gold 03/2020 and Blue 4/2020, joined the frontline, some many months after completing their training.

The four squads were welcomed by Commissioner of Police Chris Dawson, Premier Mark McGowan and Police Minister Michelle Roberts in the largest ceremony in recent WA Police Force history.

The recruits, including 78 men and 41 women range in age from 19 to 51 years.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed at that time, the formal graduation ceremony was postponed.

Nine police officers were also recognised at the ceremony for outstanding acts of bravery in separate incidents in regional WA. The incidents include the fatal shooting of an armed offender in South Hedland, the rescue of an eight-year-old boy from a burning house in South Hedland and the arrest of an armed offender in Esperance.

52 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

53 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

HEALTH

RETIREMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

VALE

Continued from page 50

You go home and you worry about your wife; you worry about what’s going on, you’re worried about the medical support.

But with Police Health we weren’t a number on the wall. It made that horror journey a little bit more acceptable.

We noticed over the years that every time there was an increase in fees people would comment: ‘Oh it’s going up $2 or $3’. I would always reflect on the increase, but I’d also go out and have a look at what other health funds offered and you’d come back and you’d say: ‘Hang on, this increase is only a coffee, you’re only going to have to give up a coffee, give up a beer. But what do you give up if you actually walk away from what I call the family organisation?’

It is so relieving to say that your health fund, Police Health, is there alongside you. It’s like your health fund is family so you don’t want to give it up.

When you’re not in those crisis type aspects of medical care, Police Health is also a good maintenance scheduler, because maintenance of your body is important. Use the extras benefits. We have regular podiatrist visits and we have our teeth check-up at the dentist twice a year, and the girl there always says exactly the same thing: ‘You are in Police Health, you are supported far greater than anything else’.

It’s about health, wellbeing and finding that you’ve got peace of mind that if things do come up, you don’t need to go to a public hospital and wait for the next one, two or three years to have something done. I can make the decision to have something done, and in most cases, I’ll be supported and reimbursed financially to a great extent.

I think if you tell your story people then reflect and go: ‘Gee, I never thought about that, I never thought I’d be in that position.’

Well, Chris and I never thought we’d ever walk down that pathway either.

Kym and his wife Chris have claimed over $335,000 in benefits from their Police Health cover since 1996.

54 POLICE NEWS DECEMBER 2020

RETIRING MEMBERS 6439 Richard BUCHANAN 6891 Peter POTTHOFF 7162 Michael DALEY 9454 Glenn SAVAGE-MORTON 10314 Richard TURNER

RESIGNING MEMBERS 8546 Derek PITCHER 9532 Stephen BEDELLS 10244 Todd BOWLER 10379 Amanda BALL 10737 Kayelene KERR 10820 Anthony LANGER 11811 Stuart RICHARDSON 12275 John DANIELS 12523 Christopher FITZSIMONS 13193 Daniel BLUETT 13963 Zachary BARRY 14007 Mellissa GAGE 14104 Allan GLOVER 14408 Dianne DUNCAN 14494 Eric FLETCHER 14541 Danielle STAFFORD 15147 Simon GODDARD 15527 Mark HOEY 15584 Faye FORSHAW 15597 James FORSHAW 15799 Isabelle McMAHON 16207 Rodney McLELLAN 16513 Patrick DA LUZ 16954 Ryan BLOOD 16965 Edgard IGNACIO 50859 Ashley MARCHANT 99342 Kieran NUTTALL 99842 Lauren CLUNING

SERVING 15129 Senior Constable MICHAEL JAMES CURSITER Aged 53

RETIRED cont.

8065 Senior Constable ANNETTE WATTERS THOMSON (NEE DARROCH) Aged 50

RETIRED 4568 Senior Constable KENNETH McDONALD Aged 72

2146 Sergeant ROBERT WILLIAM PRICE Aged 95

5736 Senior Constable MICHAEL CLIFFORD HENDERSON Aged 68 40226 Senior APLO ROBERT JOHN PEPPER Aged 65 3264 Chief Inspector ROBERT WILLIAM TAYLOR Aged 84 2790 Superintendent ROBERT WILLIAM MOORE Aged 88 2605 Superintendent BERTRAM CLARENCE WILCOX Aged 95

4540 1/C Sergeant CATHERINE BRIDGET O'ROURKE Aged 69 2765 Inspector WILMA OLIVE CURRIE Aged 95 3037 Sergeant WILLIAM ARTHUR PETTITT Aged 87 2745 Superintendent LEWI HASLER Aged 87 2502 Superintendent JACK MICHAEL DEERING Aged 92

FROM THE ARCHIVES

DECEMBER 2006 POLICE PROSECUTION DIVISION In the December 2006 edition of Police News, then President Michael Dean wrote about the Police Prosecution Division.

Around the time of print, media comments were circulating about the future of police prosecutors within the Magistrates Courts. At the time, the Commissioner of Police believed that more than 80 police sergeants would be better used on the frontline and that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should be responsible for all prosecution services.

The Union strongly opposed this stance on the matter. In his President’s report, Mr Dean said it was the Union’s belief that the retention of police prosecutors was fundamentally significant to the maintenance of the judicial system.

“Simply put, the arguments against this perennial proposition are the matters of accountability competence and cost.”

PCYC BIKE RIDE In October 2006, Goldfields police officer Gavin Bonser completed a fundraising bike ride from Kalgoorlie to Perth raising funds for the local PCYC and Telethon. Gavin’s ride raised a total of $3,149.

The money raised went towards a purpose built boxing/fitness facility to assist with the organisation’s Youth At Risk training programs.

FAMILY ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORK MATES AID INJURED FRIEND On March 21, 2004, Senior Constable Paul Litherland was travelling home along the Kwinana Freeway on this police motorcycle when he saw a broken down vehicle. He safely pulled over into the emergency bay to assist.

Paul, a trainer at the WA Police Academy Traf f ic Training Unit, positioned the motorcycle safely and was wearing a high visibility safety vest. Despite doing everything right, Paul was struck by a car entering the freeway and thrown in front of oncoming traffic. Fortunately, he survived the accident but was left seriously injured, including serious spinal injuries.

During his recover y, Paul was supported by his police colleagues who helped with projects and chores around his newly built home.

WHEN IT COMES TO $$$

WE STACK UP ALREADY A MEMBER? In Western Australia, every month* Police Health’s Rolling Extras is... $73 less than Bupa’s Top Extras 90 $18.50 less than Medibank’s Top Extras 90 And when it comes to Hospital, every month* in Western Australia, Police Health’s Gold Hospital is $62.20 less than Bupa’s Gold Hospital and $63.10 less than Medibank’s Gold Complete Hospital.

Get in touch on 1800 603 603!

If you love your health cover and you think one of your close relations or eligible colleagues might do too, now’s the perfect time to tell them about us!

THAT’S BECAUSE YOU COULD BE IN WITH A CHANCE TO WIN YOUR COVER PAID FOR A YEAR! For full terms and conditions, visit policehealth.com.au/ winmypremiums

Police Health Limited ABN 86 135 221 519 A restricted access not-for-profit Private Health Insurer © 27/10/2020 * Based on the relevant Private Health Information Statement for a Family, in Western Australia, published on PrivateHealth.gov.au, and does not include the Australian Government Rebate on private health insurance or other applicable discounts, or the application of the Lifetime Health Cover loading. Price comparison correct as of 1 October 2020.