By David Dixon
The use of injured Orange detective inspector Jason Puxty as the public face of the campaign against the state government’s reforms of the police disability and death scheme ensures this proposal is very personal for local police.
That, and the estimated 200 Central Tablelands police who marched against the state government changes to the scheme, has also made this campaign of central importance to Orange residents.
In an escalation of the fight against the changes, local police will decide next week whether they’ll impose tough work bans over Christmas, meaning that they only respond to “emergency calls.”
While the bloodied face of Det Insp Puxty graphically shows the dangers that our police face on a daily basis, it is not the whole story.
The NSW government is facing a huge cost and liability blow-out to the scheme designed to compensate injured and traumatised police to the point where the current system could cost $1 billion a year to maintain.
The scheme is also blamed for a huge sick-roster where, on any one day, up to 20 per cent of NSW police are on sick or stress leave.
An Auditor-General’s report recently described the current scheme as “unsustainable” with costs rising to $15 million per week since 2005. The average pay-out under the scheme is now $458,000.
About 96 per cent of those on the scheme are partly, at least, for “psychological trauma”, not the bashings faced by officers like Det Insp Puxty.
While it’s a claim that not even supporters of the changes will dare speak of, many senior police believe that the scheme has created an entitlement — rather than a service — culture, for some officers.
Industrial action is designed to disrupt the normal service or labour provided by a workforce. If local police adopt an “emergency only” response over Christmas, local people could soon find that their calls for break-ins, car theft, vandalism, and unruly conduct go unanswered.
While this mightn’t sound much, one of the most important needs of people who have been robbed or cheated is that someone, normally the police, acknowledge that they have suffered a loss and that someone is taking their loss seriously.
This acknowledgement also adds to the sense of order and safety that we all need to feel faith in our society. The “broken windows syndrome,” whereby an unnoticed broken window in a public building acts as an incentive for more windows to be broken, could lead to an increased sense of crime and fear in our community.
Public sympathy for the police stance, while genuine and heartfelt, is not limitless or infinite in nature.