Hundreds of police officers plan to leave the force survey reveals, as attrition fuels crime spike across SA

The police force risks losing hundreds of officers amid crippling attrition, with a damning union survey revealing many cops plan to walk away from the job.

Hundreds of South Australian police plan to walk away from the force in the next five years amid a crippling attrition crisis that threatens to worsen if substantial pay rises and extra incentives aren’t offered.

A major Police Association of South Australia-commissioned survey of almost 2000 officers reveals more than a quarter of police will leave their jobs within five years, while 23 per cent of country cops want to leave their current postings.

The damning survey, commissioned to gauge members’ expectations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement, comes as the police union prepares to begin negotiations on a new deal next month.

The survey results, distributed to union members this week, show 98 per cent of the 1931 sworn officers surveyed said a salary increase was the most important issue to address during agreement negotiations.

A damning police union survey has revealed hundreds of police officers plan to leave the force within five years. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

One respondent said country officers’ workloads were “not sustainable”, while another said staffing issues and workloads were “causing stress”.

“The cost-of-living increase has made our once good wages diminish to barely survivable,” another respondent said.

The survey, conducted by local research firm Square Holes, also revealed just 13 per cent of metropolitan officers would consider a country posting.

In a further blow to country police resourcing, 73 per cent of metropolitan officers said they were unlikely to consider working in the country despite added incentives.

PASA president Mark Carroll said a new agreement “must tackle a very pressing need to retain existing police officers”.

“It simply costs the state too much money to recruit and train police officers only to have them walk out the door at an average of about ten years’ service,” Mr Carroll said.

Mr Carroll said attracting more officers to regional South Australia was a “compelling requirement”.

“To do this, we must review the existing incentive packages,” he said.

Mr Carroll said he expected historically positive agreement negotiations with SA Police and the state government to continue.

Police Association of South Australia president Mark Carroll says existing incentives offered to police must be reviewed as part of a new enterprise bargaining agreement. Picture: Supplied

On Tuesday, Acting Deputy Commissioner Scott Duval said an attrition rate of 5.7 per cent was contributing to a spike in crime, including theft, robbery and assault, across the state.

“I think it contributes to it,” Mr Duval said.

Mr Duval said SA Police’s shortfall of 176 of 4498 sworn full-time officers as of December 1 was higher than previous years because officers were being lured to other professions.

Police Minister Joe Szakacs said the state government had committed to a “comprehensive, accelerated recruitment package”.

“SAPOL’s retention rate remains among the highest in the country, and we will continue to work with police to ensure it remains an attractive career,” Mr Szakacs said.

SA Police last week ramped up its overseas recruiting campaign after the federal government signed off on a labour agreement to attract up to 200 officers from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland.

“SAPOL is reporting considerable interest from experienced, overseas officers since receiving Commonwealth approval last week for our international recruitment drive,” he said.

“We look forward to good faith negotiations with the Police Association about retention and other issues as part of enterprise bargaining early in the new year.”