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July 7th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Updated
The Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings has defended cuts to the state’s police force which will see redundancies offered for the first time in 20 years.
The Police Commissioner Darren Hine said voluntary redundancies would be offered to frontline officers and unsworn members under a restructure costing the equivalent of 25 jobs.
The southern and eastern policing districts will also be merged and have one commander instead of two.
The Opposition’s police spokeswoman Elise Archer said the State Government’s budget cuts had gone too far.
“This is about priorities,” Ms Archer said.
“This is about appropriately funding essential services.”
But the Premier Lara Giddings said she supported the restructure.
“I believe the Police Commissioner has been very responsible in trying to find ways to make his savings,” Ms Giddings said.
The Police Commissioner has not ruled out more amalgamations.
The Police Association’s Randolph Wierenga said he feared the cuts would lead to increased crime and create a less experienced police force.
He said it took the force nearly a decade to rebuild after redundancies were last offered 20 years ago during a Labor-Green minority government.
“We’ll lose a lot of expertise in relation to this,” he said.
“What will happen is we’ll have to start recruiting again, we’ll have an inexperienced workforce, all the ramifications.”
Meanwhile, police officers have won the right to wear woollen beanies on very cold days after the resolution of a dispute between the Police Commissioner and the Police Association.
Workplace Standards had directed that all officers be provided with beanies because new inserts for police-issue baseball caps were not sufficient.
But the Commissioner would only give permission for officers permanently attached to selected country stations to wear beanies and only during prolonged exposure to extreme cold, wet and windy conditions.
Mr Hine said he was now satisfied a balance had been found between professionalism and comfort.
“We’ve not had beanies for many, many years and it’s a matter of making sure that police officers are comfortable in the cold and also making sure they look professional as well,” Mr Hine said.
“We’ve got to come to those sort of compromises and we have.
“Police officers now can apply for one and they can wear it with their high-visibility jacket as well under four degrees.”
Topics:
police,
government-and-politics,
hobart-7000,
launceston-7250,
devonport-7310
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