Thin blue line at ‘breaking point’: Police union

THE Territory’s thin blue line has been stretched to ‘breaking point’, a conference in Darwin has heard

Paul McCue, president of the NT Police Association. Alice Springs 2 March 2018. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

THE Territory’s thin blue line has been stretched to “breaking point”, a police union conference held in Darwin yesterday has heard.

In a speech to the NT Police Association annual meeting, NTPA president Paul McCue revealed 44 per cent of surveyed members reported “low” or “very low” morale.

Addressing Police Minister Nicole Manison directly, Mr McCue said government policy should not be done with “day-to-day interference and overnight knee-jerk policy on the run which is crippling your police force”.

“Minister your government has seemingly committed our officers to cleaning up much of the burden of our community’s problems, and it is quite evident from feedback in our survey we are now at breaking point,” he said.

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Mr McCue said pressure on the force’s budget was down to “unfunded government policy”, including patrols outside bottle shops which contributed to a blowout in overtime.

“You must surely take some of the blame for overtime expenditure, given community expectation quite clearly came at a cost to the police budget,” he said.

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“Remember it was the goodwill of our members who worked considerable point-of-sale shifts on their days off which enabled you to ease community concerns.”

In her speech to the conference, Ms Manison said all government agencies had to meet their budgets, which was “not an easy task”.

“Right now, the Territory is facing its biggest fiscal challenge since self-government,” she said.

“But let me say this from the outset, police savings will not come at the expense of frontline positions, or your hard-won terms and conditions, and we will not compromise community safety.”

Ms Manison said the Government had responded to NTPA concerns around bottle shop patrols by introducing auxiliaries to free up frontline police. “I don’t think any of you began a career in policing so you could stand at the front of bottle shops,” she said.