Federal Police union demand more funding to monitor criminals released from detention
The Federal Police union is demanding more funding to monitor foreign criminals removed from detention following the High Court-ordered release of 93 offenders and the possibility of another 250 being freed.
NSW
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The Federal Police Union is demanding more funding in order to monitor foreign criminals after 93 asylum seekers were released from immigration detention.
It comes as a further 250 detainees, including some guilty of “deplorable, disgusting” crimes, could be released by the High Court.
The federal government is seeking advice to put violent offenders back behind bars by introducing preventive detention-style laws similar to those used for terrorists.
The law now requires the group to wear ankle bracelets and abide by curfews, with mandatory minimum sentences to be imposed for breaches.
The detainees were released after the High Court handed down a landmark ruling earlier this month that found a stateless man from Myanmar who had been in detention after serving time in jail for child sex offences had been unlawfully detained.
AFP association president Alex Caruana said the agency is the lowest-paid police force in the country and staff numbers are at risk if the workload continues to rise.
“We do a lot for the government and we are very good at helping them with these quick decisions and stepping in and killing the void,” Mr Caruana told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday.
“But it’s come to a point now where our members are suffering and we need more resources and more funding to make sure that we’re not burning out our vendors.
“AFP is the lowest paid police force in Australia, so we’re going to struggle to attract and retain talent across to the workforce to help carry that burden.”
The AFP President reinforced the pressure his staff are under and suggested that investigations will drop in order to keep up with the workload.
“What crime type are we turning off? What investigations are we turning off in order to keep up with this workload that we’re getting,” he said.
“Or are we going to get additional funding, additional staff.”
The released asylum seekers were placed under strict visa conditions, such as regular reporting requirements, but Labor was forced to strengthen its response after failing to address community safety concerns raised by the Coalition.
As a result, the 93 detainees released to date must wear an electronic tracking bracelet and face jail time for failing to meet their visa rules.
The Coalition has warned stronger measures are still needed and has called for the government to look for ways to redetain the most serious of the detainees.
“It’s a smart move and it is a help but it doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re still going to need to knock on doors, we’re still going to need to make sure people are where their monitors say they are and we need to make sure there are no other dangers to the community,” Mr Caruana said.
At least 62 of the criminals were convicted for “very serious” violent offences, among them murderers, pedophiles and rapists.
Of the 92 individuals identified by the federal government as impacted by the court ruling against their detention, of which 84 have been released into the community, 35 failed the character test under the Migration Act for “violent, sexual or exploitative” offences.
There are also 29 offenders who committed “very serious violent offences, very serious crimes against children, very serious family/domestic violence, sexual or exploitative offences against women”.
A further 21 people had been detained following crimes related to “national security, cybercrime, serious and high profile organised crime, gang related” or “high ranking” outlawed motorcycle club members.
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Originally published as Federal Police union demand more funding to monitor criminals released from detention
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