2015-11-10
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — Mr O'Donohue's motion asks us to take note of several points with regard to police numbers. I have certainly had a look myself at the police numbers, and I confirm that Mr O'Donohue's numbers are close to, but not exactly, the numbers that I have been able to find from the Victoria Police statistics — police by location. But anyway we are only quibbling by a number of some tens, so it is not much different — —
Mr O'Donohue — I will give you my FOI.
Ms PENNICUIK — Mr O'Donohue says there is an FOI. You do not really need an FOI; the numbers are freely available. Around 13 140 is the number that I have been able to uncover, and that is the number as at March this year. That is the latest that I have been able to find. I note that that is the number of sworn police. Of course there are additional personnel in terms of the recruits and of course the protective services officers. There are 1177 of those, which includes those in training. Again that is as of March this year.
The Greens do of course support adequate numbers of police according to population, and of course as population increases then police numbers should too. The same should be set of teachers, of nurses, of ambulance drivers, of firefighters, of Parks Victoria staff and of all members of the public service in terms of coping with or assisting the public with all the services that the government provides.
But the question of where they are deployed should be a matter for the Chief Commissioner of Police in consultation with the Police Association Victoria and of course with local government and other areas of the community, but it should not necessarily be up to politicians to decide where police and police personnel are deployed. We do need the separation between Parliament and the police command with regard to that.
In a recent survey conducted by the police association in June and July of this year, which was responded to by more than 3500 members, more than three-quarters of the members reported being assaulted on the job in the last three years and more than 80 per cent feel more vulnerable and at risk than three years ago. In addition, with increases in family violence incidents or reporting, which it appears takes up around 70 per cent of the time on a regular shift, there is a strain on police resources as well as an increase in assaults on officers. Members are also reporting high rates of stress and trauma as a result of the nature of police work. I take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of the police and protective services officers who are called out to deal with often very difficult issues. These are the issues we should be focusing on rather than just raw numbers of police.
Police cells are overcrowded and prisons are overcrowded due to the unfair burden placed on police and prisons by the sentencing regime put in place by the previous government. Officers are also reporting stress, and many are on stress leave. In the week that Mr O'Donohue's motion was tabled in the house, which was two weeks ago, I was listening to Chief Commissioner Ashton on ABC radio, which was in the same week that, sadly, a young policewoman had taken her own life. As he was being interviewed on ABC radio, other police and former police called in, talking about the stresses of the job and how former police had found that they did not get enough support with regard to these issues and that they therefore felt they had to leave the police force.
I have raised these issues with the Minister for Police by way of questions on notice, and I have had a response from the minister with regard to the type of training and support that is in place for police who are suffering from trauma and stress as a result of events, issues and troubles that they have had to face in their everyday lives as police men and women. The minister has referred me to programs such as CopSmart and Resilience that are designed to increase protective factors and promote access by police personnel to support for mental health conditions — and indeed the chief commissioner was talking about those in the radio interview. However, I still think there is a need for more resources to be put towards these programs to assist police with the trauma and stress that can result from their daily work.
I am speaking about this because while it may be that we are well able to recruit police — and that is at the heart of Mr O'Donohue's motion — the difficulty may be in retaining them. While there are police being recruited, there are also others leaving for whatever reason. The particular reasons that are being raised by the police association in its survey and by police members speaking on the radio are serious issues. We need to be looking at how to keep police supported and at their being able to continue in their work. This makes the adequate resourcing of Victoria Police more complex than simply increasing numbers based on the increase in population.
Interestingly, the motion talks about the number of police and the growth of the population of Victoria at around 100 000 per annum, which I think is correct; Victoria's population growth is around 100 000 per annum. However, at paragraph 4 the motion diverges and refers to $20 million in funding for a new logo for the state of Victoria, which I do not think has much to do with the motion.
Mr O'Donohue — Money doesn't grow on trees.
Ms PENNICUIK — Money does not grow on trees, says a member of the party that was happy to spend $50 million a year on the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, for example. Under the previous government hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on that event. But whether people felt there was a need for a new logo or whether they are impressed by it, the Greens could say that the shape of the new logo is good but it is upside down and perhaps not the right colour. Going back to the serious issue of the motion, I am happy to refer to the point that Mr O'Donohue raised, but there are more complex issues involved in the resourcing of police.
That is not only in terms of raw numbers but also the way the chief commissioner, in consultation with the police association, chooses to deploy police. That could be to different kinds of working groups focused on particular issues in the community, such as family violence or drugs, bearing in mind that the Greens would like to see a more health-focused approach to tackling drugs, and the police have called for this as well.
I think Mr O'Donohue's motion is oversimplified. There are many complexities around this issue. Of course police numbers need to stay up, as I mentioned at the start of my contribution, and increase in line with population growth, as is the case with other essential services workers, such as nurses, teachers, ambulance drivers, firefighters et cetera.