A WA Police officer has allegedly been bitten and another attacked in a chaotic confrontation outside a southern suburbs shopping centre.
And the state’s police union says it is time for the force to be properly recognised in an ongoing pay fight, as assaults reach a 15-year-high.
The latest violent incident to make headlines occurred when a man allegedly jumped into the driver’s seat of a police wagon after being approached by officers at Kwinana Marketplace.
Police allege the 28-year-old had been acting aggressively before he was approached, tried to grab an officer’s firearm, and assaulted another officer as he was being arrested.
Five officers surrounded the police car as the man was wrested from the driver’s seat – it is then he allegedly bit one of the officers on the finger.
The man has since been charged with five offences.
The chaos unfolded on the same day Detective Senior Sergeant Greg McDougall was allegedly hit and run in Belmont. The 46-year-old detective remains in Royal Perth Hospital receiving treatment for his injuries.
WA Police Union president Paul Gale said police were there to protect the community and had to put themselves in harm’s way to do that.
“But we shouldn’t expect to be assaulted every time we go out to enforce the law,” he said.
Six years ago, 941 police officers were assaulted on the job. In 2021-22, more than 1200 were attacked.
Last financial year, that number grew by almost 300, marking the highest rate of assaults in 15 years, and a 60 per cent increase since 2015.
The union is locked in a wage dispute with the state government, with its members demanding to be properly recognised.
But its first request of an 8.5 per cent pay rise for the first year has been knocked back.
WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said the government had increased the number of police and, in relation to workers’ compensation, there had been “a number of different elements where we’ve assisted police over time”.
But the union has not ruled out further industrial action as negotiations continue.
9News Perth