Queensland Police facing worst staff exodus in five years as burnout spreads
Police are abandoning careers at unprecedented rates as Queensland faces its worst officer exodus in five years, leaving nearly 1400 positions unfilled across the state.
Queensland Police are haemorrhaging staff almost as quickly as they are recruiting, with officers on the ground saying cops are leaving in droves as they are burnt out and defeated.
Exclusive data obtained by The Courier-Mail has revealed 709 sworn police left the service in the last financial year, including age retirement – the worst exodus in five years, with fresh officers leaving at alarming rates.
Sources on the ground say they feel let down by the service, burnt out, defeated, and are fed up with doing the work of other government agencies.
Experts also say big ticket recruitment drives weren’t working, while the Queensland Police Union acting president Andy Williams says overtime is pushing staff to the edge.
“We’re running people through the academy as quickly as we can. Both academies are full, but I don’t think we’re going to get around this mismanagement, anytime soon,” Mr Williams said.
The data – compiled by Queensland Police Service – showed 709 police left the service last financial year compared to 326 in 2020-21.
In the last five years, 2832 officers left the police service while 3285 were recruited – equating to just 453 extra cops since 2020.
Junior officers were leaving the most, with 118 police leaving the service in 2024-25 who were less than four years into their career. Just 45 junior officers left in 2020-21.
But senior officers with between 10 and 24 years experience were also walking away, with 114 officers leaving in the last financial year.
While the total attrition rate in October 2025 was 5.3 per cent, the unplanned attrition rate decreased to 2.8 per cent in October 2025, compared to 3.1 per cent in October 2024.
The alarming data comes after a 100-day review revealed police were doing the jobs of other government departments and recommended staff return to more key frontline duties.
Queensland Police Union acting president Andy Williams said the rise in experienced police quitting was unsustainable.
“We’re losing competent officers who are proficient in police work,” he said.
“As of last Friday, we were meant to have 14,166 police, and we’ve got 12,779. That’s nearly 1400 police that we don’t have to do the job. So it falls back on the remaining 12,800 to do the work of 14,000- that’s not sustainable.
“It’s become a more challenging work environment, and they really haven’t done their best to modify their rosters and work practices to try and mitigate some of that.”
In the past financial year, Brisbane Region lost the most staff with 126 officers departing the service, followed by 100 from the North Coast Region and 77 from the South Eastern Region.
This is compared to 55 staff being lost in Brisbane, 45 in the North Coast region and 39 from the South Eastern region in the 2020-21 financial year.
A police source told The Courier-Mail a different generation of officers also added to the exodus.
“When you take them from school you have to be prepared to get 4-7 years out of them. It’s a different generation,” they said.
“Back in the day, there was no way you’d waste eight months going through training at a reduced pay rate to then quit in three years. Different times now.”
Another police source told The Courier-Mail they felt like there needed better systems in place to retain staff, not just a focus on getting more boots on the ground.
They said they felt like the current “incompetent high ranking” staff were out of touch and not listening to the current police they needed.
While the data shows a rise in officers leaving, recruitment numbers hit a high last financial year with 988 new officers joining the service.
But Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy said massive recruitment drives and relaxed conditions to join the service were having the opposite effect.
“The problem you have is when you have massive recruitment drives and what is the full employment market, you’re perhaps not taking the best of the crop, so you’re taking people in who may not be ideally suitable, or actually invested in the job,” Dr Goldsworthy said.
“So I’m not surprised if you would have a fairly high attrition rate in those low service years, because they simply get in quite easily.
“It used to be quite competitive to get in. Now, realistically, anyone can join as long as you don’t have a criminal history, and they get in and suddenly decide the job is not for them.
Mr Goldsworthy said the culture needed to change.
“I accept the job is dangerous. The job is quite onerous at times. I did it for 28 years, but there are very good working conditions around their rewards and things like that,” he said.
“So something’s not right in the culture of the organisation, if they’re not retaining people.”
It comes after Queensland Police’s efforts to recruit 500 international staff a year for five years in 2023 backfired.
The latest stats also show there were only 375 applicants as of September 30 which were attracted to Queensland Police since the introduction of the HECS-HELP Debt and Interstate and International Policing incentives.
Mr Williams said QPS needed to look to be an employer of choice.
“Things are imposed on the front line, rather than done in a way that’s consulted – any new sort of initiative or whatever seems to come from people who don’t actually work on the road. So they tend not to understand what’s needed on the road.”
He said staff were becoming disillusioned doing other government department jobs they didn’t sign up to do.
Police Minister Dan Purdie said the government had acted swiftly to inject more police in the service.
“We have already sworn in 1,077 new frontline officers, and we are committed to delivering a minimum of 1,600 additional recruits over the next four years,” he said.
“The Crisafulli Government has strengthened Queensland’s crime laws – delivering Adult Crime, Adult Time – to turn the tide on Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis, and delivered landmark DFV reforms to protect victims sooner after incidents rose by more than 200% under Labor.”
A Queensland Police spokesman recruitment and retention of police had been impacted by shifts in the labour market in recent years that have also affected other jurisdictions and other industries.
“The recently released Commissioner’s 100-Day Review underscores the importance of realigning our resources to focus on core policing functions,” he said.
“The review highlighted areas for improvement, including addressing non-core responsibilities that have impacted frontline capacity. In response, the QPS is implementing a comprehensive reform agenda aimed at enhancing workforce wellbeing, improving organisational efficiency, and strengthening frontline capabilities.
“We continue to invest in recruitment and workforce development initiatives to attract high-calibre candidates and support officers throughout their careers. Our focus remains on building a strong, resilient, and capable workforce that meets the needs of Queenslanders now and into the future.”
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