Victoria Police officers start alerting motorists to speed cameras as industrial action kicks off on Sunday

Victoria Police officers have begun alerting motorists to speed cameras by flashing their lights near stationed vehicles as frustrated officers kick off industrial action over a pay dispute.

Victoria Police will alert drivers to speed cameras by flashing their lights as part of industrial action from Sunday. Picture: Ian Currie

Police cars with flashing lights will warn motorists of speed camera locations from Sunday.

And a ban on police overtime will also start as part of a major escalation in the police pay dispute.

The industrial action by the Police Association will see more than 2000 police cars marked up with anti-government messages.

Police cars marked up amid the pay dispute. Picture: David Crosling

Slogans written across the windows of police cars include: “Free labour under Labor” and “overworked, underpaid, always here”.

Officers will also stop briefing the state government on non-operational matters and will target senior government ministers’ offices with their campaign.

Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt prepares for industrial action. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Victoria Police will take industrial action from Sunday, like they did in 2019. Picture: Ian Currie

A ban on working unpaid overtime will also commence on Sunday, while tens of thousands of pamphlets will be handed out to members of the public by police to support their industrial fight.

Association secretary Wayne Gatt said members did not want to launch the industrial action, which began on Sunday morning, but officers were “really angry” about the improved pay and working conditions not being met.

“The police force is angry, it’s desperate,” he said.

“They’re (officers) taking action and they’re expressing that anger within the community and directly to the government.”

Unionised officers will alert motorists to speed camera locations by flashing their lights and slogans about wages will be scrawled across patrol cars in an “uncharacteristic” show of defiance of the “dire state of Victoria Police”.

Mr Gatt has warned of the industrial action for some time. Picture: David Caird

You may notice police vehicles with slogans written on them from Sunday. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Mr Gatt said members were burnt out.

“We’re not going to allow that to continue,” he said.

“They’re telling you in their cars, what they really think about the way they’ve been treated.”

“They are the fabric of what keeps us safe, and what keeps our state going. Governments need to treat them with the respect that they deserve.”

Asked whether the state government had worked with police to come to an agreement amid Premier Jacinta Allan’s test ride on the $14bn Metro Tunnel project on Sunday, Mr Gatt said: “I’ll tell you something that tunnel boring machine and my members in Victoria Police have in common, they’re getting driven into the dirt at the minute.”

Mr Gatt said officers would not abandon their duties to the community during the action.

“They should be concerned that the government is not treating their police with the respect it deserves,” he said.

Ms Allan said the government had been actively involved in negotiations through state industrial relations representatives.

“I’m not going to cut across those discussions by having running commentary over the top of the people who are charged with the responsibility to get these negotiations concluded at the negotiating table,” she said.

“While those negotiations are underway I want to continue to thank Victoria Police for the work they do every single day.”

When asked if she was concerned about officers taking action during a busy time of year, Ms Allan said: “That’s a matter and really, a right of union members to make this call in terms of what actions they choose to take”.

Mr Gatt says his members are overworked, underpaid and are leaving the state as a result. Picture: Jason Edwards

The Saturday Herald Sun revealed the association’s latest survey showed 28 per cent of officers were likely or very likely to leave the force in the next year.

71 per cent say they are suffering from burnout.

Mr Gatt said the data showed the “real life impacts,” and that morale within the police force was lower than ever..

He said the force needed to stop treating officers like “numbers”.

“They’re not just numbers to us, but they might be to the government,” he said.

“Deal with them like people,

“They’ve got names, they’ve got families.”

The state government has repeatedly said it has been negotiating with the Police Association in good faith.