NSW Police numbers continue to increase after historic pay rise
The biggest wage increase in history has the NSW Police force on track to return to full capacity by 2026, following five years of dwindling officer numbers.
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The biggest wage increase in history has the NSW Police force on track to return to full capacity by 2026, following five years of dwindling officer numbers.
More than 2500 applications have been received since paid recruits were announced in November 2023, while NSW Police said its largest class in 10 years will attest on Friday at the Police Academy in Goulburn.
The class of 298 students will enter the force as probationary constables on Monday.
Police Association NSW vice president Ian Allwood said officer numbers started to drop significantly during the Covid pandemic due to the need for decent pay.
Mr Allwood said with the wage rise of up to 40 per cent, along with the incentive for student officers to be paid about $1360 per week, the force should return to full capacity by 2026.
“It will be a slow rebuild but I would say one to two years and we’ll be back,” he said.
New recruits are continuing to fill classes at the academy with the current class for next year already at 350 students.
Mr Allwood said the academy classes were operating “pretty much at full capacity”.
“The increase has been substantial to the point where before we were struggling to get 100 students in a class and now we are getting 300-350 recruits per class,” he said.
He said students being paid to study has led to a higher intake of people in a higher age range demographic compared to previous classes where students mostly consisted of young people.
“Now we are getting people aged 20 to 25 which I think is the sweet spot for policing – they just need that little bit of life experience before serving their communities,” he said.
“The recruits are not being paid much but it’s enough to cover costs for a family while they are away.”
During a visit to Byron Bay this week to announce the $28m police precinct NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the force was working as hard to rebuild.
“We’re about 50 per cent up so it’s really good and we’re at 2500 applicants now since the announcement in November,” she said.
“The bigger our classes the quicker we will get there.”
Mr Allwood said other incentives helping attract recruits included ‘You Should Be A Cop In Your Home Town’ which means officers can live and work in their own community.
A recruitment strategy, including a paid advertising campaign, will also be rolling out over the coming months.
Recent changes to the Police insurance scheme could help fund the wage rise, as well as attract and retain officers, through removal of massive lump sum payments to officers who left the force due to total, permanent disability, in favour of smaller yearly payments for up to 10 years.
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