Time for the Force to get real on police resources

The Victoria Police Force recently made some public comments both in the media and the latest Gazette regarding The Police Association’s stance on resources. The Association urges members to consider such comments with caution and to consider the facts.

In the interests of securing improved allocation of resources for our members, The Police Association received a commitment from Government to conduct a full audit of police numbers by 1 March 2007. Once and for all, we wanted to know where our members should be compared to where they actually were.

The audit, conducted by the Victoria Police Force, did not provide this insight. The data failed to provide key information about where our members are actually working, rendering the audit hollow and worthless.

As such, The Police Association has continued to campaign for a thorough audit in order to identify and return our 655 missing front line members.

To ensure that resources are allocated effectively in the best interests of our members and the communities they serve, we must conduct a full and proper audit of police numbers and commit to an effective resource allocation model.

Such a model must allow for the provision of additional police numbers where they are needed and should not (as prescribed under the Force’s model) rely on shuffling already insufficient numbers across already critically under-resourced work places. This remains a fundamental point of difference between The Police Association and the Force on this critical issue.

It is time for the Victoria Police Force to get real on resources and stop implicating The Police Association in its unpopular and ill-conceived decisions.

A distortion of the facts does not change the reality of the challenges our members face on a day-to-day basis due to severe under-resourcing. If the Force continues to assert that it is allocating resources responsibly as part of an approach to “work collaboratively” with The Police Association, why are so many of our members feeling the strain? 

Bruce McKenzie

Assistant Secretary