Tasmania Police has responded to claims that its Radio Dispatch Services is under-resourced.

Staff rostering in Radio Dispatch Services (RDS) is based upon a workload analysis designed to balance efficient staffing with anticipated workloads.  

Additional staff can be called in if required and this is the rostering system applied across Tasmania Police.

“If we were to introduce minimum roster levels rather than the demand driven roster we would need to take additional police off the streets to work in RDS,” said the Deputy Commissioner Scott Tilyard. 

“Staff in RDS perform an important role working within a challenging and dynamic environment.  Last year we implemented two working groups to address technology and human resources issues within RDS,” said Mr Tilyard.

The Police Association declined an invitation to participate in the working groups.

“It has been incorrectly reported that RDS had 4 staff on duty on Sunday.  In fact there was a full roster of 9 staff working in RDS on that day,” said Mr Tilyard.

It has been standard operating procedure for many years to defer non-urgent checks during peak periods, and officers are able to obtain that information from other sources.

“The Police Association has claimed an officer was injured in an incident last year because RDS was under-resourced and unable to complete safety checks in time.  In fact, RDS was fully staffed on that day and the safety checks were underway as the incident occurred.”

We recognise that efficient rostering and staffing levels within RDS is critical in order to provide the best possible service to the community using the allocated resources.