Police union boss puts government on notice as frontline officer shortfall revealed

Victoria Police needs another 1500 frontline officers to keep up with its workload, new modelling has revealed.

According to the Staff Allocation Model, which was brought in in 2016 to predict how many additional police the state would need per year, the new frontline workers must be recruited within four years.

Secretary of the Victorian Police Association, Wayne Gatt, says it’s critical the government provides funding to allow for the recruitment of the additional officers.

“Our members are reporting significant shortfalls in the time it takes them to get to jobs, they’re seeing us having to hold jobs for longer than we need to — that delays our response to the community — and they’re reporting thousands of breaches of baseline minimum service delivery standards to the community.” he told Stephen Quartermain and Emily Power, filling in for Ross and Russel.

“That’s something we want to see stop.”

Mr Gatt put the state government on notice over the frontline officer shortfall.

“If the need is 1500 police and that’s what the modelling is telling the government is required, I would hate to see them give the community 700 additional police and shortchange them by 800,” he said.

“I think that would lead us up to a crisis similar to the one we’re seeing in ambulance and Triple-0 right now.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about the staffing shortage in Victoria Police