Premier Steven Miles defends government’s record after survey reveals discontent in police ranks
Premier Steven Miles has defended his government’s record in supporting Queensland police after a survey of officers showing discontent in the ranks.
Gold Coast
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Premier Steven Miles is defending his government’s record in supporting Queensland police, but admitted more needed to be done to reduce the number of officers choosing to leave the service.
On Wednesday News Corp mastheads revealed comments and statistics from a survey of police officers showing three quarters who responded felt the service was heading in the wrong direction.
It also show a similar number calling for greater use of GPS trackers, more than 60 per cent wanted better pay and superannuation and 65 per cent said they would not recommend family or friends join up.
Police also said the demands of domestic violence and mental health jobs were creating an unsustainable workload, with one Brisbane officer saying they were being used as “de facto social workers”.
Mr Miles questioned the survey sample size of anonymous officers, but said he would support increased use of GPS trackers, but fell short of committing to improving worker conditions, including better pay and superannuation, despite admitting the service had a problem with its attrition rate.
“I’ve been working really hard with the new police commissioner on his plans to improve morale in the police service,” he said.
“Our Queensland police do a fantastic job of keeping Queenslanders safe, and I’ve been proud to work alongside them.
“We have a record number of recruits at the academy, but we know that we need to reduce the attrition rate. That’s something that I’ve been meeting with the union or talking with them about.”
Mr Miles said police in Queensland were among the best paid in the country.
“I’m not surprised that the police who responded to that survey would like to be paid more. I’ve represented workers for a fair chunk of my life, and all of them would like to be paid more,” he said.
“But we have some of the best paid police in the country, and we will continue to make sure that they are so that we can continue to attract more police to our service. That’s what we want to see.”
Asked about the survey results, Shadow Police Minister Dan Purdie said that if elected the LNP would assist police by introducing stronger laws and a GPS tracker program for high-risk domestic violence offenders.
“Queenslanders know that our thin blue line has become increasingly stretched under Labor,” Mr Purdie said.
“The LNP will work with our police, not against them, and empower them with stronger laws and more resources to protect Queenslanders.
“The LNP will also address the scourge of domestic violence in our communities with a new GPS tracker program for high-risk offenders on DVOs, providing real-time information to protect victims.”
Originally published as Premier Steven Miles defends government’s record after survey reveals discontent in police ranks
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