‘McDonald’s do it better’: Union boss says police are being shown up by fast food restaurants

The boss of Victoria’s police union says police stations are so under-resourced that only a few unplanned absences are forcing them to close their doors.

Over the weekend, police stations in Williamstown and Sandringham were closed, and Sunbury didn’t have a divisional van operating due to staff shortages.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt says it’s “just not right” and police are being shown up by fast food restaurants.

“McDonald’s do it better,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“If a couple of people were sick at McDonalds, the fast food restaurant wouldn’t shut down … they’d do something to keep that open.

“They’re a fast food outlet, Victoria Police is an essential service, and yet over the weekend we see two examples where a couple of people are sick and suddenly, because our resources are so threadbare, that essential service to the community stops.

“We’ve let our police station numbers run down to a point where we just can’t respond to it now.”

Mr Gatt says the state government has heavily invested in policing numbers, but under-allocation to stations remains a significant problem.

“They are horrendously overworked and under-resourced at those stations,” he said.

“The system is just not working.”

Press PLAY below to hear what’s fuelling the chronic shortages