Mass departures and recruitment issues a major challenge for Victoria Police command

Victoria Police is struggling to attract new recruits while a stream of members is walking out on the job. Here’s why.

Victoria Police is fighting for numbers with almost one in nine officers leaving since 2019 and the force struggling for recruits.

It can be revealed 1912 sworn members out of a 16,700-strong workforce retired or resigned in the three-and-a-half years to July.

Although overall officer numbers have increased in that period, the departures and recruitment issues are a major challenge for command.

The Herald Sun has been told many of those who left did so as a result of enforcing draconian Covid rules, such as children not being allowed on playgrounds.

Police officers patrolling a Melbourne playground during lockdown. Picture: Getty

While the vast majority are rank and file members, 530 are of sergeant level and above, showing the force has lost thousands of years of experience.

Sixty per cent had reached retirement age or finished because of ill health.

The alarming departures are combined with “very few recruits” training at the academy and a dire number of applications to join Victoria Police.

Senior police are aware Covid rules left many officers feeling “wondering what they were doing”.

Victoria Police has just launched a recruitment drive to try to gain 2400 members in the next two years, following an attrition rate rise from 3.6 per cent last year to 4.7 per cent this year.

At some stations, managers have emailed all staff pleading with them to “speak to their peers and encourage them to transfer” to their station.

“We are starting to feel the pinch with staffing,” a memo for the Whitehorse, Monash, Boroondara and Manningham areas reads.

“After Monday’s gazette the number of unmatched vacancies is about 34 positions across the division. With very few recruits in the Academy the only way to address this issue is for every ED1 member to speak to their peers and encourage them to transfer into ED1.”

Victoria Police recently launched a recruitment drive. Picture: Getty Images

But officers told the Herald Sun it was a “solution” that only “robbed Peter to pay Paul”.

The Herald Sun is also aware of some policing departments having to reduce hours due to “unprecedented” staff shortages.

“Covid took a massive toll on the force – we were not only dragged from pillar to post, manning state and regional borders to being thrust at protest after protest, but then we were expected to stop toddlers playing on slides and grannies sitting on benches in the park,” one senior constable, who left last year, said.

“So many of us just became disillusioned with the job. It’s not what we came into policing for and we felt let down by our superiors, who were just toeing these ridiculous government edicts.”

Many officers are believed to have transferred to other state police forces, with Queensland being a popular choice.

Some Victoria Police departments are facing ‘unprecedented’ staff shortages. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

The figures the Herald Sun has obtained are up to July last year. But one senior officer said they expected the situation to get worse, as many of those thinking of retiring or resigning had held on during the pandemic and lockdowns.

Another officer said the 41 who left the force due to vaccine mandates should be urgently brought back.

“Surely now is the time, when we are bleeding officers and struggling to recruit them at the front door, that we should be inviting these members back,” they said.

“We have lost a lot of seniority and experience from the ranks.”

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said the union was working with the force and identifying areas where improvements could be made to streamline the recruitment process.

“We acknowledge attrition is not working in our favour and that recruiting at the moment is difficult,’’ he said.

“We believe that Covid has played a part in increased attrition rates and we’re not surprised. Our members worked tirelessly through that period and the work was, and remains, exhausting.”

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt says ‘recruiting at the moment is difficult’. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Sergeant Gatt said the largest number of resignations was in the 30 to 39 year age group, meaning members were leaving earlier in their careers than previously.

“Placing an emphasis on attracting new recruits to policing is something that needs to happen constantly, but it’s more important now than it ever has been, given the rapid changes we’ve seen in the working world over the last three years,” he said.

“This is something that Victoria Police, TPAV and the Victorian government will have to prioritise during our enterprise bargaining negotiations, due to commence next year.”

Victoria Police said the increased attrition levels came in a period of historically low unemployment which was driving an extremely competitive job market.

A spokesman said the level of departures appeared to have stabilised in the past three months.

“Police reaching retirement age, many who’d delayed this decision during the pandemic, drove the recent increase in member departures,” the spokesman said.

More Victoria Police officers are walking away from the job. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“We make every effort to ensure our members know they are valued, are boosting mental health and wellbeing support to reduce the impact of psychological harm related to work and reviewing our rostering practices to better understand the needs of our workforce and the community.”

He said the force was intent on building the workforce, with a new recruitment campaign recently launching to add 502 police and 50 protective services officers over the next two years.

“As part of this effort we are streamlining the recruitment process, with a trial starting in January to explore options in exam testing so applicants can complete it online anywhere, any time,” the spokesman said.

Applicants who just missed selection or withdrew from the recruitment process would be contacted “to provide appropriate support for success.”