Fat cops get taxpayer gastric banding…have another donut
Australian taxpayers are helping to pay for overweight cops to have radical gastric-banding stomach surgery as part of a fat-busting initiative.
The Perth Sunday Times reports the West Australian Police and the police union have agreed to pay up to $2,000 towards lap-banding operations for obese officers in a bid to counter chronic illnesses.
Several officers, mostly front line and traffic police, have already undergone the surgery, the West Australian Police Union confirmed yesterday.
The expenditure coincides with drastic West Australian (WA) government ordered belt-tightening, which has seen front line officers stripped of 115 mobile phones.
Under laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, a band, similar to the size of a wrist watch, is fastened around the upper stomach to create a small pouch which restricts the amount of food that can be consumed.
Operations generally cost about $6,000.
news.com.au