Boost in police praised
THE introduction of safe staffing levels at the state’s seven 24-hour police stations has been marked a “watershed moment” by the state’s police association.
A commitment to allocating an extra 125 officers by the State Government has allowed Tasmania Police to set numbers at each of the 24-hour stations, Commissioner Darren Hine said. The state’s 24-hour stations are Hobart, Bellerive, Glenorchy, Bridgewater, Launceston, Devonport and Burnie.
Commissioner Hine said Tasmania Police had worked with the union to come up with a number of staff that each 24hour station will have in the next one to two years.
“So in effect, it means when a police officer turns up to work at one of those 24-hour stations each shift will have a number of people that will work with them,” he said.
“It not only improves our community safety, but it also improves the safety of our police officers.”
Police Minister Mark Shelton said the Government was committed to the safety of the public and police officers.
“With the extra allocation of 125 members into the police service, this has allowed the discussion to take place about where the best numbers are for our 24-hour police stations.
“We know that these extra numbers that are in the police stations will allow a better rotation of shifts and more members on each shift.”
Police Association of Tasmania president Colin Riley welcomed the new policy, saying yesterday’s announcement was “a watershed moment in policing in Tasmania and potentially the nation”.
No other Australian policing jurisdiction had such a broad statewide application of specified safe staffing levels, he said.
“I congratulate Tasmania Police for leading the nation,” he said.
“Safe staffing levels combined with the [operational response model] will provide our members with confidence that their safety is being reliably managed ... and ensure the public are as safe as possible.”
Mr Riley said there would be a graduated introduction of the new policy, with the seven stations to be compliant by July 1, 2022.