This has emerged in a joint approach to the Commissioner of Police by two high profile Government Ministers to get better police resources in the South West region.

Busselton is listed as one of two towns that need urgent attention.

Vasse MLA Troy Buswell and Bunbury MP John Castrilli have written to Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan seeking additional police resources in Busselton and Australind.

The two ministers told Commissioner O’Callaghan they were seeking his “serious and urgent consideration to the allocation of additional police in the South West district”.

“You would be aware that the South West is one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. This rapid growth has placed significant pressures on all infrastructure and services, not the least police services,” they wrote.

“In particular the Australind and Busselton police stations are operating under enormous pressures.

“Both these regions are amongst the highest growth areas with a high demand demographic.

“Our research indicates that both these stations have registered significantly higher ratios of duties per police officer than other comparable stations within the state.

“Australind Police Station has recorded a workload of three times that of other stations.

“We request an urgent increase in the allocation of officers to the South West district to address this extreme disparity.”

Mr Buswell told the Mail that the Police Commissioner had ultimate responsibility for the allocation of police resources and the joint approach that sought additional ones in the South West was done in anticipation that some would flow to Busselton.

However, Mr Buswell did not believe the installation of CCTV in the Busselton CBD in Mitchell Park and the proposal to install cameras on the Busselton Jetty indicated there was a surge in crime in the town.

“Installing CCTV, in part, is a response to dealing with some of the social challenges that come with larger communities,” he said. “Busselton is transitioning into a much larger urban area. With bigger populations comes a broader spectrum of issues.

“Some of the issues around Mitchell Park are as much social as they are criminal and the instillation of CCTV is an important proactive tool to help the local government to deal with those things.”