Scots cop quits Glasgow to join force Down Under

“I do feel like WAPol value their members far more than Police Scotland did.”

Scots cop Maggie Hamilton has swapped the rain-lashed mean streets of Glasgow for the sizzling sunshine and beaches of Australia’s Perth.

The 41-year-old, from Gartmore in the ­Trossachs, who was a response officer in Govan, left Police Scotland last year after 14 years. She is one of 100 serving Scottish officers who applied after Western Australia Police Force (WAPol) launched an international recruitment drive in 2022.

Maggie is featured in new TV series Brit Cops Down Under as she undergoes three months of training, including in taser and firearms skills, to become a West Aussie Cop.

Now a 1st class constable in Western Australia, Maggie has no regrets. She said: “Kit, stations and resources are far better here. And not having to scrape your car windscreen before and after a shift is nice.

“I do feel like WAPol value their members far more than Police Scotland did.” The Scot is developing a good tan and misses her friends back home. But she doesn’t miss the country.

She said: “I’ve only been here a year and I vividly remember the grey and miserable weather enough not to miss the place.”

Maggie felt she was “in a bit of a rut” in Police Scotland and was not progressing the way she wanted. But in Australia she has found the actual job much the same.

She said: “Sunshine makes people a lot happier so police are treated better than in Scotland.”

Much of Maggie’s story in the series is about her worries over bringing her dog Ruby to Australia, but tragedy struck when her beloved nine-year-old companion died. Initially Maggie didn’t consider applying to become an Aussie cop because her other dog Gizmo, who she’d had for 12 years since rehoming him in 2010, wouldn’t have been able to travel.