Police union wants action to stop Queensland poaching Victorian police

Queensland is offering up to $20,000 to lure Victorian cops north, with the police association urging the Andrews government to intervene to protect the state’s already struggling force.

Queensland is trying to lure Victorian police north.

Victoria’s police association has demanded the government act to stop Queensland poaching members from our force.

The Queensland Police Service is offering up to $20,000 to lure interstate officers to the state, in a bid to increase the size of the service by 1450 officers by 2025.

Under a $90m package prospective officers’ could also have up to $20,000 wiped from their HECS debt.

Victorian police association boss Wayne Gatt said the Andrews government must act to ensure Victoria’s already struggling service was not impacted.

Queensland Police Service is offering up to $20,000 to lure interstate officers. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Sgt Gatt said the Queensland offer made a “compelling” case for new applicants and existing police in other states to consider moving jurisdictions.

NSW has also recently stopped charging police recruits for training and are incentivising regional deployment, he said.

“Given Victoria has approximately 800 police vacancies, something compromising our operational capacity, we need to incentivise policing in Victoria too,” he said.

“Government has supported recruitment in other essential industries, and it needs to do so in policing too.

“We need to fill our academy urgently, to ensure today and into coming years we have enough police to keep the community safe.”

Last year the state government announced free university for thousands of nurses and midwives as part of a $270m boost to the healthcare sector over five years.

“The Police Association has been advocating to government for the need to incentive policing so as to address the most significant recruitment shortfall ever experienced,” Sgt Gatt said.

Victoria has approximately 800 police vacancies. Picture: Wayne Taylor

“Policing is a great career, it’s an amazingly stable and rewarding job, but we need to urgently help new recruits make the practical transition from other paid employment, and manage cost of living pressures during training.

“If we want the best of the best in this job, we need to put our best foot forward to get them.”

Victoria Police has streamlined key recruitment processes in a bid to attract at least 2000 officers over the next two years.

Shadow Minister for Police, Brad Battin, said: “Victoria cannot afford to risk losing dedicated, skilled and experienced front line officers to other states.”

“The Andrews Government can’t sit on its hands. We must be actively pursuing ways to attract, train and retain police officers in Victoria.”

A government spokesperson conceded the force was battling resourcing issues but refused to say whether it would consider incentivising a career with police.

“Many different industries across the country are facing workforce shortages and we know policing is not immune from this,” she said.

“We have delivered the biggest increase in police numbers in the state’s history, investing in more than 3600 new police of which more than 3,000 are on the beat. “Policing is a challenging, rewarding career, and it could be for more people than they may have thought.

“We’ve funded Victoria Police to help them run an extensive recruitment campaign to invite more people to consider a job in policing, and are delivering extra funding for Bluehub to support officers’ mental health.”