Police to cut 125 support staff

Peter Marshall says frontline staff won't be affected by the job cuts. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Police are set to cut 125 employees in what Commissioner Peter Marshall is labelling a "fine-tune" of staffing numbers.

Mr Marshall yesterday announced job cuts were necessary in the coming financial year for the police organisation to live within its means.

All the redundancies would come from the ranks of non-sworn support staff and no cuts would be made to frontline services, he said.

"In terms of non-sworn support staff positions that will be impacted, we expect that the number will be around 125. However, the organisation was carrying around 75 vacancies so the task would be achievable with a minimum of difficulty."

Police cost managers have been tasked with finding savings in operating expenditure and non-sworn personnel costs.

At a select committee hearing in March, assistant commissioner Viv Rickards admitted police would need to find $470 million in the next four years to fund a predicted 3 per cent staff pay rise.

Mr Marshall said the police budget would not be cut in the coming financial year and frontline staff would not be impacted by the job cuts.

"I want to stress that there is no intended reduction in the constabulary headcount and frontline service delivery will not only continue to be maintained but will be enhanced."

More details about the cuts to non-sworn staff would be available within the next two months, Mr Marshall said.

"Such changes need to be seen within the context of over 3000 non-sworn positions. The majority of those 3000 positions would be untouched."