Additional frontline Police Officers to keep Tasmanians safe

12 November, 2020

Mark Shelton MP

2020-21 Budget: Additional frontline Police Officers to keep Tasmanians safe

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to keeping Tasmanians safe which is why we are investing $8.9 million in the 2020-21 State Budget to employ an additional 20 police officers over four years.

These additional officers will support Tasmania’s COVID-19 response capacity in areas such as quarantine checking and compliance and assessment, which are critical services in helping to keep our community safe.

Following their COVID response responsibilities, the additional officer numbers will transition to become full-time Special Operations Group (SOG) positions with 20 additional officers allocated to the SOG by 2024.

SOG officers are highly trained and equipped to respond to a wide range of security situations and can be deployed during high-risk policing incidents, whether in response to specific security and safety threats, or to support criminal investigations.

These 20 officers are in addition to the 125 additional police officers being recruited over the term of the Government.

Tasmanian Police officers work hard every day to keep Tasmanians safe in a complex and changing environment and the Government knows that while a career in policing is highly rewarding, it can also be challenging.

Recruiting additional police is one of the most important ways of not just keeping Tasmanians safe, but also keeping police officers safe from the threat of physical and mental harm.

This is a Budget that invests in our community by keeping Tasmanians safe through increased resourcing for our police service.