Page 2186 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 22 June 2005
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In estimates, the minister stated that the government had recruited 33 additional police since 2001. He insisted that that was a net increase and, as usual, abusively put the boot into my colleagues and me at the estimates committee hearing because we dared to question his accuracy about that. When the minister cannot cope with his responsibilities and cannot defend the indefensible, he resorts to bile and vitriol. We have seen it all before and I will not go into that.
Despite all the rhetoric about increased effective police numbers, it was revealed in the budget estimates hearings that the number of sworn police officers in the ACT is actually the lowest in around four years. Having told us in estimates ad nauseam that there had been real growth in police numbers—recruitments over attritions; a net increase—when questioned closely on the number of sworn and unsworn officers at present the police minister advised that there were only 583 sworn officers, at least 14 police officers fewer than when the Liberals were last in government. There were 597 sworn police officers then. The number of sworn police officers, according to the AFP’s annual reports, over the last four years reads as follows: 2000-01, 597, 2001-02, 602; 2002-03, 603; 2003-04, 600.
What is the number now? It is 583. In anybody’s book, that is an effective decline in police capability and police strength; you cannot get around that. The population of Canberra and the geographical spread of it has grown significantly as well over that four-year period—from 311,900 to 325,600, an increase of five per cent—which makes that figure look even worse. It means that we are in a much worse position in terms of police effectiveness and capability than we have been in four years. That puts paid to claims by the minister that the Stanhope government has effectively increased police numbers. In fact, the Stanhope government has actually reduced numbers. Yes, it has spent more money, but to little effect. Indeed, there is a massive question mark here over the retention of good and experienced officers in the ACT.
Unsworn police officers, although vital to policing operations, are not the front line of our police force and are unable to perform the full range of duties of sworn officers. So for effective community policing strength, having an adequate number of sworn officers is fundamental. I go back to what I said earlier about what defines effective police strength. It must be that component of sworn police with powers of protection and arrest. That is the benchmark against which we must measure ACT Policing’s capability.
No wonder the community is concerned at the lack of a police presence in regard to the patrolling of the suburbs and not having the resources to respond to incidents, to protect shopping centres, to stop graffiti occurring, and to overcome the window breaking and non-stop vandalism across all of our shopping centres. I will talk more about the detail of those incidents later.
According to the Productivity Commission’s report, our police numbers are still significantly below the national average, despite the Stanhope government’s 2001 election promise to increase police numbers to that level, an election promise which the police minister, Mr Hargreaves, continues to ignore. Why did the government bother to promise in 2001 to increase police numbers to the national average if it really did not think that that was necessary? I think the minister should revisit his commitment to his government’s promise.
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