Page 182 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 9 February 2022
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… numbers have been stretched even thinner during the pandemic. The problem has been exacerbated lately as more staff have had to be stood down and quarantined due to COVID Omicron exposure or close contact.
The toll that this lack of support is taking on our police is chronic and fast becoming overwhelming.
I have raised these matters before, but it is important that we keep in mind not just the statistics but the real impact this has on victims of crime and the real impact this is having on our police. Let me quote from the AFPA:
Our members are burnt out. We are concerned about the welfare of our members. Our members don’t have the opportunity to take time off or mental health days and spend time with their families, like a general public servant would, purely because they are spread thin on the ground, and they have such a strong camaraderie that they do not want to take leave knowing that taking leave will leave their mates on the road … thinner …
This mob come into this place and talk about support for workers. Where are they supporting these workers? I know that the AFPA does not donate to the Labor Party or the Greens; other unions do. I hate to think that that is any part of it, or that the membership of the CFMEU influences the support for some workers over others. But where is the Labor Party support for the police? Where are the Labor Party standing up and saying, “We won’t allow this to happen to our workers”? No; they are happy to just throw the police on the scrap heap. The question is: why? If it involved some of the other associations or unions in this town, I am sure many members of the Labor Party would come in here and bang their fists on the table.
According to reports during the year, 50 police officers have been redirected from criminal investigations—some of them serious matters involving organised crime—due to COVID pressures. For example:
Break-ins at Canberra homes and businesses over the coming weeks of lockdown may not receive police attendance due to the resourcing pressures exerted by Covid-related duties.
That was in the Canberra Times. Here is another one:
They are stressed. They are tired. Policing is a dangerous profession and the last thing we need as an extra element of danger is the fatigue factor, and like I said, the members are the last people who will put their hand up and say I’m feeling fatigued or they’re feeling stressed, because they are so professional, they do want to serve the community and get the job done.
A relief or some reprieve would be good, because what they are currently doing will probably work over a short period of time, but as you know, over a sustained period of time, things can go pear shaped quickly.
That was the AFPA again.
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