BEAT BLOWOUT

Overtime bill for bottle-o cops tops $1 million

THE overtime bill for Territory police officers stationed outside bottle shops has exceeded the $1 million mark this year, sources have told the NT News.

Sources from within the NT Police believe the overtime bill for Point of Sale Intervention officers has reached the seven figure mark, with officers filling the extra hours at Tennant Creek, Katherine and Alice Springs on a daily basis.

The controversial legislation has drawn criticism from the NT Police Association since its introduction by the Giles Government.

NTPA president Paul McCue said anecdotal evidence suggested the overtime bill was growing by the day.

“What we do know is there are a significant amount of police officers standing doing a point of sale duties every day. In Alice Springs alone there’s probably between 30 and 40 officers that are tied to doing these duties,” he said.

“Some of these duties are done on overtime. You’ve got not only the cost of having the officer there doing it, you’ve got police officers doing overtime covering those duties.

“It does add up to a significant amount of money and you have to question whether that money could be utilised in a more appropriate way.

“I would suspect just about every day that somebody (is) doing an overtime shift to do point of sale interventions. Anecdotally there’s evidence to suggest that clearly takes place. Let’s not forget that that has flow-on effects to other areas of the police force.”

An NT Police spokesman said an exact figure on overtime arising from Point of Sale Intervention shifts could not be broken down.

He said all overtime, including major and serious crimes, traffic accidents and Point of Sale Interventions, comes from a $6.3 million overtime budget.

“NT Police’s overtime budget covers replacement for all forms of absence and emergency responses that are required as part of our duties across the Regional Operations area,” he said.

“This includes major crimes, search and rescues and responses to serious incidents. Regional Operations is budgeted $6.3 million for overtime to achieve all of these tasks.”

”It does add up to a significant amount of money” NTPA PRESIDENT PAUL MCCUE