THE Queensland Police Union has called for a boost to police staffing and resources, warning the rubber band can only stretch so far and the service is at breaking point.
Union president Ian Leavers has warned police are exhausted and morale across the state has plummeted.
“Something has to give,” he wrote in the Police Union journal.
“Police at the frontline, in general duties roles and in sections right across the state, quite apart from those dealing specifically with juveniles, have massive file loads and workloads.”
Mr Leavers said both the government and opposition promised a boost of more than 500 officers before the last election but the service was still desperately understaffed.
“I know you cannot snap your fingers and 500 police magically materialise, however stations all over Queensland are desperate for more police and more resources.
“We could easily add another 100 police and 30 vehicles to every police region in Queensland and the central commands, and that would just be a start.”
The union called on police Commissioner Ian Stewart to be up front with officers about police budget cuts claiming he is “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by cutting budgets to fund other priorities.
Mr Leavers said the budget reality was that the Corrective Services budget would “surpass the police budget for the first time over the next few years”.
“We as taxpayers will spend more on keeping criminals in prison than we will on actually trying to apprehend them and prevent crime in the first place,” he said.
“So, while prisoners are given PlayStations and all the modern conveniences because of anti-discrimination legal cases, we have police using old, outdated and sometimes broken and unavailable equipment.
“Police cannot get the necessities or extra police numbers to do the job, yet it seems prisoners get everything they ask for. This clearly shows the system is broken.
“It is a sad day when we spend more on corrective services than police.”
Australian Associated Press
