New WA Police jet will cut response time in half across the state

Police will cut in half the time it takes to fly anywhere in Washington state after a multimillion-dollar funding boost for a new state-of-the-art plane.

Police Minister Paul Papalia on Thursday announced an expenditure of $15.8 million for the four-year lease of the new Pilatus PC-24 which will be based at the Police Air Wing headquarters in Jandakot, and to refurbish the unit’s existing fleet.

Mr Papalia said the plane could fly anywhere in the state in three hours, half the six hours it takes for the force’s current PC-12 planes.

“We represent a third of the continent. This jurisdiction is the largest subnational police jurisdiction in the world,” he said.

“This means that, for the first time, our regional communities will benefit from all the support, speed of response and policing capabilities available to our metropolitan community. »

Mr Papalia said the PC-24 was capable of landing on dirt runways and airstrips and could carry up to eight officers at a time, along with their equipment.

“It can be tasked with teams of Tactical Response Group officers, homicide detectives, forensic specialists – all policing capabilities can be deployed anywhere in the state on short notice,” he declared.

The PC-12s will be refurbished and upgraded and will remain part of the Police Air Wing fleet.

Mr Papalia said the PC-24 was the same aircraft used by the Royal Flying Doctors and WA Police could work with that agency on training and maintenance.

WA and Queensland Police are the only forces in the country with jets.

The aircraft is expected to be used for both natural disaster response and criminal investigations and will be available to WA Police by early to mid-2026.

Deputy Police Commissioner Kylie Whiteley said the new jet was a significant boost to aerial response capability.

“As the state’s population continues to grow, including in regional and remote areas of the state, the range of incidents to be responded to is expected to become more diverse and require more specialized support from units based in Perth,” she said.