Internal modelling suggests Victoria Police would need 1885 extra officers to cover changes

Force command and the Police Association are at odds over an arrangement to cover nine-hour shifts and a nine-day fortnight, with concerns it could come at a massive cost.

Victoria Police says it would need at least 1885 more officers to cover a move to nine-hour shifts and a nine-day fortnight, or community safety would be jeopardised.

Force command and the Police Association were at odds over the arrangement as last-minute talks staved off looming industrial action for the next six months.

The union said on Wednesday that it had received a commitment from Victoria Police to move towards the nine-by-nine model.

Force command and the Police Association are at odds over the proposed model. Picture: Chris Putnam

A force circular sent to all members and protective services officers said it was working towards roster reform and to implementing the change.

But an internal bulletin from Chief Commissioner Shane Patton sent last month shows he believes any nine-by-nine arrangement would come at a massive cost.

Mr Patton wrote that internal modelling had shown the move – when applied solely to regional uniformed members up to the rank of senior-sergeant – would require 1885 more officers and cost $1.458bn.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton says any nine-by-nine arrangement would come at a massive cost. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

That would blow out to $3.189bn when calculated for all members.

“The reality is this proposal would seriously undermine our capacity to keep the community safe and further burden our already stretched resources,” he said.

“For those reasons, it’s not something that Victoria Police is able to negotiate on because we cannot sustain this impact on our service delivery and our budget. We simply can’t afford it,” Mr Patton wrote.

An email sent by Chief Commissioner Shane Patton to the force's 16,000 members on November 3.

One high-level source confirmed on Wednesday that the force’s position remained that the change could not happen without billions in extra funding.

The force is already battling to find sufficient recruits while simultaneously being hit by an exodus of officers.

It was announced last month that the opening hours of 43 police stations would be cut during off-peak times, to free up staff for frontline duties.

Mr Patton’s email mentions the changes to police station reception hours.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said it would use the period before the extended enterprise bargaining agreement expired in May to implement a nine-hour shift model, “provided it can be achieved within current resourcing and in ­accordance with agreed rostering principles”.

It has long been argued that police are effectively working an unpaid hour every shift, because they arrive early to get their equipment and a briefing before starting work, then ­invariably finish late.

One potential alternative privately contemplated by senior officers is for money to be made available by the state government to cover that extra work.

But Police Association ­secretary Wayne Gatt was ­adamant the nine-hour shift move would be happening.

An email sent by The Police Association Victoria to the union's members on December 19.

Mr Gatt said community support for a better deal was high, and that the nine-by-nine arrangement would address burnout, unpaid overtime and fatigue issues which were driving police out of the job.

He said changing the way the force delivered services would make the new shift ­regime attainable. “It’s not unachievable,” he added.

Opinion was divided among police posting online after the pause on industrial action was announced.

“It feels like a cave-in at this time of the year,” one said on a cops’ forum.

“We had the momentum and let it go,” another wrote.