The Police Association of NSW (PANSW) has criticised the low number of officers in the NSW Police Force.
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It has called for a fairer ratio between the number of police on the ground and the state’s population.
The comments by PANSW president Scott Weber come as many await the decision from the Re-engineering Taskforce led by the federal government.
There has been no date set for this announcement but findings from the report could result in a re-alignment of NSW police staff, ranks, local area command zones and front-line personnel.
The PANSW claims that if police numbers are not significantly increased, it will become impossible to prevent crime and protect the people of NSW from threats of terrorism, domestic violence, child abuse, drugs and organised crime.
Mr Weber said 2,500 additional officers would be required over the next five years to prevent NSW “falling into the same shameful crime scourge as Victoria and to remain the Premier State.”
In addition to this, he says 500 of these officers must be sent to communities by the end of 2018.
“NSW must act now to prevent this happening here,” he said.
"Adding to this mess are years of neglect of country policing. Every rural community deserves adequate policing resources, but this can’t be at the expense of other communities.
"The NSW economy and budget is the strongest it has been in years, and a failure to invest in safe and secure communities jeopardises all this.
“The building of mega stadiums, rail lines, roads and emerging suburbs requires more police to keep people and places safe. The Government can no longer gamble with the safety of the people of NSW."
According to the PANSW there are 213 officers per 100,000 people in the state, trailing Victoria (222) and Tasmania (241).
“The NSW Police Force is focused on finishing the re-engineering of the organisation before assessing where more police are needed,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said.
“Once the new structure has been implemented, we will have the ability to assess how many more officers are needed, but more importantly what skills and capability they will need to keep crime down.”