Police shift Brisbane jobs to regions in bid to help tired staff

The Queensland Police Service will decentralise its command to better resource the regions, in a suite of changes designed to solve fatigue and burnout in its ranks.

The findings of an independent 100-day review into the police service were released on Tuesday, including 65 recommendations to better address staff shortages and burnout.

Acting Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy said one recommendation was to clearly define the limits of individual frontline roles.

Acting Commissioner Shane Chelepy speaks about the review into staff shortages and burnout.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

“We’ve seen mission creep within the organisation, particularly post-COVID. We’ve seen police taking on roles they shouldn’t have been doing,” he said.

“We will see a frontline focus, frontline mindset right throughout our organisation.”

About a dozen senior executive positions would be lost from Brisbane, with a restructure shifting resources from the city to the regions.

Chelepy said no one would necessarily lose their positions, but the service would instead leave positions vacant as staff left.

He said the service’s portfolio had gradually expanded into “societal issues” that officers were not necessarily trained to deal with, including 180,000 domestic and family violence calls and 60,000 mental health calls every year.

“Our staff are fatigued and our staff are suffering burnout,” Chelepy said.

“This is not one person’s fault, this is something that has happened over time.

“This review report … will ensure that we realign our injury management, our welfare support services, our mental health support services, to the front lines.”

Those services needed to be located in Queensland’s regions, he added, where police could get support after returning from a fatal traffic accident or domestic and family violence job.

“They need those resources in the regions ... not in Brisbane.”

Chelepy also promised to fix problems with finding regional housing and mental health support.

Some recommendations would be implemented in weeks, with others to take up to two years, he said.

One key recommendation involved changing the police service’s legislative mandate, which would need cabinet sign-off. Police Minister Dan Purdie said the report was “the first step”.

“I look forward to going through every recommendation – 65 recommendations – with the commissioner,” he said.

Chelepy said there was “some overlap” between the watchhouse report’s recommendations and those in Tuesday’s review, adding he anticipated no extra funding would be needed.

“For a change, it’s not about money,” he said.

The Queensland Police Union welcomed the report’s recommendations, with president Shane Prior saying too much police time was being spent on non-policing jobs, such as transporting prisoners.

Queensland Police Union secretary Shane Prior said the service was ready for change, welcoming the review’s findings and 65 recommendations.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

“We, the front line, [are] hopeful this will actually return police back to patrolling the community,” he said.

“We need to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of the Queensland community, and we’ve lost our way, so we need to do something different.”

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