Published Thursday, 18 December, 2008 at 06:30 PM
Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport
The Honourable Judy Spence
And Again! The LNP gets it Very Wrong on Police Numbers
No-one should take any notice of anything the Liberal National Party says, Acting Police Minister Robert Schwarten said today.
“They get police numbers wrong, don’t know what they are talking about and are just downright lazy,” Mr Schwarten said.
“Police advise me as at 1 December, there were 9886 police officers in Queensland, with 9000 considered as performing actual operational duties.
“The opposition’s claim is yet another example of the LNP making it up as it goes along, using some sort of voodoo bush maths to invent inaccurate, lazy and downright wrong figures.
“The LNP issued misleading press releases throughout Queensland claiming that only police who receive an “Operational Shift Allowance” (OSA) are actually on the beat.
“The LNP’s so called Law and Order Policy is nothing more than a dog’s breakfast of contradictory piles of nonsense.
“The Liberal National Party is misleading the people of Queensland by claiming that only police receiving the “operational service allowance” are in operational positions.
“An “Operational Shift Allowance” paid to a police officer has absolutely nothing to do with who is and who isn’t on the beat in Queensland, or as the opposition likes to call them, an Operational Police Officer’.
“Police performing operational duties are categorised into two groups - officers receiving an operational shift allowance and officers receiving penalty rates,” he said.
Mr Schwarten used the opportunity to remind people that the full complement of police and more will be out serving the people of Queensland this festive season.
“Police will dedicate an additional 8200 hours to traffic enforcement over the Christmas period as part of the Road Safety Campaign.
“The Bligh Government is committed to increasing police numbers and providing officers with the resources, support and legislation they need to continue their great work in the community, he said.
Mr Schwarten said the latest publicity stunt by the LNP is a desperate attempt to hide its plan to cut public service jobs.
“Until such time as Mr Johnson and his cohorts come up with a decent policy no-one should take them seriously.
“The fact is that if the LNP was in charge, heaven help the people of Queensland, we’d have police retiring and no-one replacing them so numbers would drop for the first time,” he said.
Media Contact: 3239 6203
“They get police numbers wrong, don’t know what they are talking about and are just downright lazy,” Mr Schwarten said.
“Police advise me as at 1 December, there were 9886 police officers in Queensland, with 9000 considered as performing actual operational duties.
“The opposition’s claim is yet another example of the LNP making it up as it goes along, using some sort of voodoo bush maths to invent inaccurate, lazy and downright wrong figures.
“The LNP issued misleading press releases throughout Queensland claiming that only police who receive an “Operational Shift Allowance” (OSA) are actually on the beat.
“The LNP’s so called Law and Order Policy is nothing more than a dog’s breakfast of contradictory piles of nonsense.
“The Liberal National Party is misleading the people of Queensland by claiming that only police receiving the “operational service allowance” are in operational positions.
“An “Operational Shift Allowance” paid to a police officer has absolutely nothing to do with who is and who isn’t on the beat in Queensland, or as the opposition likes to call them, an Operational Police Officer’.
“Police performing operational duties are categorised into two groups - officers receiving an operational shift allowance and officers receiving penalty rates,” he said.
Mr Schwarten used the opportunity to remind people that the full complement of police and more will be out serving the people of Queensland this festive season.
“Police will dedicate an additional 8200 hours to traffic enforcement over the Christmas period as part of the Road Safety Campaign.
“The Bligh Government is committed to increasing police numbers and providing officers with the resources, support and legislation they need to continue their great work in the community, he said.
Mr Schwarten said the latest publicity stunt by the LNP is a desperate attempt to hide its plan to cut public service jobs.
“Until such time as Mr Johnson and his cohorts come up with a decent policy no-one should take them seriously.
“The fact is that if the LNP was in charge, heaven help the people of Queensland, we’d have police retiring and no-one replacing them so numbers would drop for the first time,” he said.
Media Contact: 3239 6203