“The WA Police Force is looking for people like you.”
The ‘Let’s Join Forces’ ad campaign has been everywhere for about 18 months – on billboards, TV, and online. But despite the prolific advertising numbers on the force are declining.
WA Shadow Minister for Police, Adam Hort, noted in Parliament in March, “in April last year there were 7,360 officers and by January this year that number had fallen to 7,341.”
The campaign forecast rapid response to applications, stating that after submitting an application to WA Police Cadets, it only takes two weeks before hearing back, followed up by three-to-four months of testing and interviews.
For Jesse Smith* (name changed to protect privacy), this process has taken almost nine months and counting.
Smith applied for Cadets on September 17, 2025, and heard back the following week to confirm their application was progressing and they would be contacted by a Recruitment Officer “soon”.
“To afford yourself every chance of success throughout the recruitment process and training, we encourage you to attend a Recruiting Information Session,” the email reads.
Smith says that at the information session, the promise of a three-to-four-month timeframe for the application process was repeated.
“They said to the group that was there that once you’ve done everything that they need you to do, that you get put into a selection pool and then that’ll take, like, two weeks to get put through”.
From there, Smith’s physical evaluation took place on October 22, just over a month after their application.
An interview panel followed shortly after, then radio silence until December.
“There’s been periods of time where it’s almost been a month since I’ve heard anything and there’s been multiple times where I’ve called the actual recruitment centre and they’ve said I should hear back from them soon, but then three weeks later I still [have not].”
Smith eventually heard back from recruiters on December 11 to organise a psychological evaluation due to a childhood history of mental health issues.
“I couldn’t do the appointment that was originally booked for me in December. [It] moved until the 14th of January, so basically a whole month after I had actually had everything done.
“They said that was one of the last things that I needed to do.”
Expecting to join the Cadet program imminently, Smith quit their part-time job, only to receive word on February 27 that:
“You have successfully completed the required recruitment assessments for consideration of employment as a Cadet with the Western Australian Police Force and have now been placed in the ‘Selection Pool’.
“Currently there is no pool expiring, however, Police Recruiting reserves the right to review and remove applicants from the pool at any time.”
An hour later, they were sent an email asking to re-take their physical evaluation, further dragging out the process.
“Because I had to do it twice, it was $110 in total”.
While Smith will be reimbursed for this fee by the Police Force, both upfront payments were out-of-pocket and not to be repaid until end of financial year.
They now had no job and no idea of a timeline for when they would be employed.
Senior Recruitment Coordinator, Senior Sergeant Gary Williams, says Smith’s experience is highly unusual and would be the exception rather than the rule”.
“I am unable to comment on individual cases but I am happy to speak with [them] to provide some re-assurance if required,” Senior Sergeant Williams said.
“There are a number of circumstances that may delay the application. The applicant may not comply with specific timeframes provided by Recruitment which can cause a delay.”
This was the case for Smith whose process was delayed just one month when they changed the date of their psychological evaluation. But a one month delay does not explain the additional five months.
Other police officers reported their recruitment process taking anywhere from seven-to-12 months.
Smith is expected to finally join the Cadet program within the next two months, nine months since their initial application.
While they are happy to finally join the program, Smith says the delays have been exasperating – particularly seeing they have passed all the testing in a largely timely fashion.
“It’s just been so lengthy and the whole process has taken forever.”
