Katanning Police Station set for $1.5m upgrade

Katanning Police Station is set for a $1.5 million facelift as part of a $13m WA Government pledge to modernise regional police facilities in the wake of COVID-19. Safety upgrades will be rolled out at stations across WA, with a $5.5m bump for the Great Southern. Katanning’s station will have its first major upgrade since the 1980s. Officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Brett Pengilly said the upgrades had been a “long time coming”. “It is a forever-changing workforce,” he said. “We try to make it so you flow through the station, and I think it will keep the morale high.” The upgrades will improve the security of the main office space and custodial areas. The public interview area will be redesigned to avoid public access to secure areas of the station. Sen. Sgt Pengilly said previously decommissioned spaces including cells and exercise yards would be repurposed for property storage, changerooms and a gym. There will also be upgrades to CCTV and secure celli-port access for transferring the accused to court. “We are looking at electric gates, improved lighting and having proximity card access rather than the old standard key so we can isolate the areas through the station as well,” Sen. Sgt Pengilly said. Police Minister Michelle Roberts said the works were “urgently overdue”. "Our police have been doing a magnificent job, especially during the COVID lockdown, and we are doing our bit to ensure they have the facilities and equipment they need to do their job,” she said.