A man has allegedly bitten one police officer and assaulted another in a chaotic confrontation outside a Perth shopping centre.
The 29-year-old was reportedly acting aggressively at the Kwinana shopping centre today when police officers approached him.
He allegedly tried to grab one of their guns and assaulted an officer while being arrested.
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At some point during the struggle, which was captured on video, one officer’s finger was allegedly bitten after the man jumped into the police car.
The officer can be seen struggling to pull away, and holding his hand in pain.
“He’s bitten me,” the officer can be heard saying in footage of the incident.
The 29-year-old has since been charged with five offences.
The WA Police Union said assaults against police officers were at a 15-year high.
They’re demanding this be recognised in the latest pay dispute with the state government.
“The level of respect or lack of, that’s shown to our law enforcement is evident when you see vision like that,” union president Paul Gale said.
“We’re there to protect the community, we have to put ourselves in harm’s way to do that, but we shouldn’t expect to be assaulted every time we go out to enforce the law.”
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, to be the highest in 15 years, and a 60 per cent increase since 2015.
The union is locked in a wage dispute with the state government.
Its first request of an 8.5 per cent pay rise for the first year has been knocked back.
As negotiations continue, further industrial action isn’t being ruled out.
“We’ll go into a next level of activity, should we not receive anything in the very near future of the government,” Gale said.
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