WA Police lock-up staffing shortfall sees offenders released THE new Perth police lock-up has stopped accepting offenders several times in recent weeks because there are not enough staff to supervise them. Staff shortages are forcing cops off the street as they drive around looking for a police station to process offenders, according to the Police Union. The union said that police who used the Perth watch-house had to spend hours waiting for their paperwork to clear because of a backlog caused by the lack of administration officers. The situation is forcing police to keep offenders locked up in the back of vans longer. The Sunday Times can reveal that the Perth watch-house had to stop taking in detainees on August 8 after receiving 18 people in less than four hours. Four days later it happened again. Police Union president George Tilbury said it was a disgrace that a facility which officially opened in July already was breaking down. The new Northbridge facility doubled the capacity of the East Perth watch-house from 50 to 100 but Mr Tilbury said no extra staff were allocated. He said the backlogs were putting staff members and detainees at enormous risk. "It is beyond comprehension that we have a new facility with twice the capacity of the old watch-house yet there are still the same number of staff in place to process and monitor detainees," Mr Tilbury said. Police officers are forced to wait extraordinary lengths of time to see their detainee through custody processing when the watch-house is extremely busy. About 1120 prisoners are brought to the new facility every month 250 more than in 2011. Mr Tilbury has called for an extra 50 staff added to the 78 existing staff to be stationed at the complex to ease the pressure. WA Police confirmed there had been "temporary delays" in processing new detainees and said it was looking at ways to streamline admissions during peak periods.