‘Never been as dangerous’: New police union boss paints alarming picture

New Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior has revealed “police mentally cannot cope with the job” as the service deals with burnt out cops facing daily violence and massive backlogs.

Burnt out cops are starting each shift with a massive backlog of up to 20 jobs and are being forced to chuck “sickies” just to recuperate, as youth crime and domestic and family violence incidents explode.

The alarming picture was painted by new Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior, who said walking the beat had “never been as dangerous as it is right now”, as he called for more assistance from other government departments and first responders.

Mr Prior took over as QPU boss this week after former president Ian Leavers was appointed the inaugural cross-border commissioner following a wave of youth crime in Goondiwindi and nearby Boggabilla.

Mr Prior has been with the Queensland Police Union since 2017, serving as its vice president under Mr Leavers since 2019.

Just days into his new role, Mr Prior exclusively told The Courier-Mail that overworked police were under more pressure than ever before.

Queensland Police Union President Shane Prior. Picture: Richard Walker

“I joined this job 19 years ago and you can see the dramatic increase in how our workplace and the people that we deal with are becoming more and more violent,” he said.

“Now we have young people going to work, looking at their job list with 20 jobs backed up ready to go, 15 of those are probably going to be domestic and family violence.

“This job has never been as dangerous as it is right now.

“We really need to start highlighting the work that our people are doing every single day and the fact that we are the only organisation after 4pm that attends dangerous and complex incidents.

“Where is youth justice? Where is child safety? Where are the medical professionals that can work hand in glove with us to deal with these problems at the very first instance?”

Mr Prior suggested youth justice workers could be rostered on with police to deal with these issues “head on”.

Queensland Police Union President Shane Prior in the early days of his career.

He said at 6pm on a Friday night the only “safe place” for a youth offender is a watch house where “more police are going to be babysitting them”.

“Children in watch houses is a necessity,” Mr Prior said.

“The reality is those children, or those youth offenders that are in watch houses are in there for a reason … these youth offenders are not petty criminals.

“I have been in watch houses before where there are 10 year olds but that 10 year old committed grievous bodily harm and was stabbing people.”

Earlier this month, Mr Leavers called for a National Royal Commission into mental health services following a spate of police shootings.

Asked whether he supported those calls, Mr Prior said: “A Royal Commission would have its place … but we already know what the answer is”.

“The answer is more health professionals on the frontline dealing with these issues, it just can’t just be police, and we need a multi-agency approach to deal with this problem.”

Asked whether his leadership style would be similar to Mr Leavers, Mr Prior said: “I’m my own person but what I will say is that Ian has done a magnificent job leading this union for the last 15 years. He will do an even better job as the cross-border commissioner”.

Mr Prior said he feared that if police continued on this “trajectory” the workforce would be completely burnt out in 10 to 20 years.

“When I joined 20 years ago, you had people in this job for life, now the reality is that you’ve got people joining this job that are staying for between 5 and 7 years,” he said.

“We want to change that … we need to start looking at rostering practices and facilitating that family life.”

Queensland Police Union President Shane Prior talking to police who walk the beat.

Mr Prior, a detective senior constable, is a former State Crime Command officer and is also president of Queensland Police Legacy.

He said officers attended 192,000 domestic and family violence call-outs in the last year while psychological injury claims were up 129 per cent.

“Domestic and family violence is by far our biggest demand driver for service but on top of that is youth crime,” he said.

Mr Prior said officers had up to 18 days of “unplanned” sick leave – or “sickies” – every year.

“Sickies by police who are stressed, who are under pressure,” Mr Prior said.

“That should be a concern because our police mentally cannot cope with the job and if we do not do something now we are going to have a burnout service.”

Asked about LNP policies such as ‘adult crime, adult time’ and opening children’s court, Mr Prior said: “I do not care who is in power … I will sit down with anyone in government who wants to actively talk about the best outcomes for police.”

“I have 12,000 members out there that expect me to defend them and I will do so fiercely,” he said.

Ian Leavers and Shane Prior. Picture: Liam Kidston