WA bid to end police suspect 'babysitting'

New legislation has been introduced to the West Australian parliament allowing arrested suspects to be detained in custody.

Now, suspects are "babysat" in police stations, Police Minister Liza Harvey said.

The proposed amendments to the Criminal Investigation Act would remove the requirement for an arrested suspect to be detained in the company of a police officer.

"This provision has created a substantial impost on frontline police availability," Mrs Harvey said.

"It has meant up to 46,000 frontline police hours are being spent each year guarding arrested suspects, often in inappropriate places like general work areas or offices at local police stations.

"This is equivalent to about 24 police officers a year who are not available to perform frontline police tasking duties because they are required to personally guard arrested suspects, for what can be protracted periods of time."

She said the requirement to guard arrested suspects also posed security risks for police.