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In 1910, three police officers lodged a petition for improved wages and it was this action which proved the catalyst for the decision to create a representative organisation for the State’s police.

During the second half of 1911, officers continued their fight for better wages by sending a petition to the Commissioner of Police in August. The Commissioner did not agree with the claim and did not forward it to the Colonial Secretary.

The Commissioner then left for the north west of Western Australia and while away there had been a change of State Government. He offered the officers the opportunity to present their request to the new Colonial Secretary John Drew.

On November 3, 1911, a group of officers, representing the constables and non-commissioned officers of the police force, presented a further petition and met with Mr Drew.

Following the meeting, in January 1912 a constitution for the first police association in Western Australia was prepared and Mr Drew gave authority for the association in February. This decision to allow members of Western Australia Police to form an association, arguably the first Police Union in the world.

The founding Members then organised the first conference which took place at the Police Barracks Library in Perth on July 3, 1912.

The elected councillors of the newly constituted Western Australian Police Association had just five months to prepare for the conference. Delegates from the Metropolitan, Fremantle, Goldfields, South-West, Western, Swan and Albany District Branches attended the first one-day conference.

The founding President, Sergeant Michael Moore, was unable to stand for re-election and Corporal S A Fox was elected the new President and served the Association for a further four years.

In 1926, the Western Australian Police Association became the Western Australian Police Union of Workers after it was registered in the Court of Arbitration of Western Australia as an Industrial Trade Union.

On February 1, 1927 an application was filed in the Court of Arbitration for the first registered Police Award and after a hearing on February 27, the first Police Award was registered. In June of the same year, the Union appointed its first full time General Secretary, George Gaunt.

 WA Police Union 1912 Conference

WA Police Union - 1912 Conference

Presidents

1912 M Moore
1912-16 S A Fox
1917 J S Simpson
1918-19 G V Purdue
1920-21 J H McDonald
1922-24 G V Purdue
1925 J H McDonald
1926-30 N McCowan
1931 M L F Robinson
1932-36 S Campbell
1937-39 W Harvey
1940 H McLernon
1940-42 R Alexander
1942-45 R M larsen
1946-48 A J Croker
1948-51 A O Fiebig
1951-53 A J Croker
1954 A McCooper
1955-57 H F Isles
1958-61 R H Sims
1962-64 H F Isles
1964-68 B J Clarke
1968-70 H L Taylor
1970-73 C L Sullivan
1974-75 P G Rollo
1975-82 A F S Hutchings
1982-86 E W Couzens
1986-90 K Chadbourne
1990-95 M Brennan
1996-09 M J Dean
2009-12 R L Armstrong
2012-18 G B Tilbury
2018- 21 H S Arnott
2021-23 M Kelly
2023-Present P Gale

Secretaries

1911-12 P C O'Dowd
1912-16 A H Tillotson
1916-18 V Houstan
1918-23 J S Simpson
1924 J H McDonald
1924-27 G T Nelson
1927-38 G Gaunt
1938-42 D S Carlton
1942-55 W J Halliday
1956-71 J C Pereira
1971-85 I T Fraser
1986-94 P J E Stingemore
1994-96 R G Stirling
1996-11 K See
2011-13 C M Vitler
2013-23 P Hunt

Life Members

J C Pereira
J Foley
E W Couzens
R G Crowe
R Hamilton
T Rippon
K Chadbourne
M J Brennan
M J Riley
R Moore
A J Weaver
D J Hayden
M J Dean
R L Armstrong
C Laurent
M Lockhart
J Groves
D J Lampard
P Potthoff          
C Vitler