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South East Region Roundup
BOB SMITHSON
NEW OVERTIME APPROVAL PROCESS
On 2 June 2012, a new directive was issued by the South Eastern Region Assistant Commissioner concerning the
overtime approval process. The directive outlines who can and cannot approve overtime. Non commissioned
officers are now not able to approve any overtime at all. Requests for overtime are to go through the chain
of command via the District duty officer (DDO) to a commissioned officer, either the RDO or the on-call
commissioned officer.
But this only applies to requests for
overtime of up to two hours. Anything
beyond two hours has to be approved
by the relevant District officer. I can
only assume by this that the District
officers will be getting woken up
several times during each night.
I guess we would have to expect
these sorts of adjustments to
our working lives, taking into
consideration the approach adopted
by the new LNP government and their
spending cuts across the board.
“I have received
reports of our officers
being told to hand
over jobs, such as
domestic violence
investigations,
midway through
the job.”
as domestic violence investigations,
midway through the job.
This is a ludicrous situation. It could
become very embarrassing for
someone in the witness box, if they
have to stop giving evidence and tell
“If you request
overtime and it is not
authorised, just go
home.”
the court they were directed to cease
duty halfway through an investigation
and told to hand it over to someone
else who had no first-hand knowledge
of the facts surrounding the incident.
Please let us see some common sense
when it comes to overtime approval.
If you request overtime and it is not
authorised, just go home. I don’t
want to see our members hanging
Another old issue that is likely to
raise its head again is the practice
of management suggesting to our
members that they have some time
off in lieu of overtime. For some of us
who have been around for a while, we
know that this practice is simply not
on.
For some of our newer members, I
will reiterate: there is no facility in
our Award or EB agreements for time
off in lieu of overtime. If you work
overtime, you must be paid for it.
If your boss suggests to you that
you have some time off in lieu,
politely ask them to put it in writing.
Somehow, I don’t think they will do
that.
MORE COMMUNICATIONS
PROBLEMS
It seems that the communications
problems in the South Eastern Region
will not go away. The latest crisis has
occurred in the Coomera District, with
However, the new overtime directive
also contains one paragraph which
reads, ‘Delivery of frontline policing
remains a priority. Adjustments under
the overtime approval process are not
to impact core operational policing
requirements’.
“If your boss suggests to you that you have
some time off in lieu of overtime, politely ask
them to put it in writing. Somehow, I don’t
think they will do that.”
It would appear that some
commissioned officers are not taking
this paragraph into consideration
in their decision-making process. I
have received reports of our officers
being told to hand over jobs, such
around for 30 or 45 minutes every
day completing ITAS logs in their own
time. If it can’t be finished on your
rostered shift, do it when you next
start work.
radio communication going offline for
lengthy periods of time.
For several nights in a row, the radio
channels dropped out completely,
Queensland Police Union Journal August 2012 23