Police officers have been left looking after children when child safety operators have become unreachable, the head of the Police Association of Tasmania claims.
Shane Tilley said officers were sometimes forced to take on the work of child safety operators.
“We have had occasions where we’ve located children in the middle of the night and there is no contact point for them,” he said.
“There is no one within the network to call and come and collect them and give them a place of safety.
“It was not unusual for these young kids to be fed by police, put in a room or an office with a TV and a blanket and cared for by us, up until a point where someone clocks on at work, likely the next day.”
Mr Tilley said police had on numerous occasions been handed cases right before child safety operators were due to go offline.
“Often our members are getting phone calls at three o’clock in the afternoon on a friday to look for little Johnny because he hasn’t been seen for two days,” he said.
“It is just the fact little Johnny hasn’t turned up to the care facility or back home.
“Our core duty is to keep them safe, but it’s not our core duty to chase them around the countryside.”
Mr Tilley said child safety was just one area where police had been forced to pick up work from other agencies.
Earlier this year a review into the role of police in Tasmania, by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency, found officers were increasingly having to take on work which fell outside their responsibilities.
That was across a number of areas, including mental health, ambulance assistance and family violence.
Mr Tilley said the extra work impacted on the health and wellbeing of officers.
“Our members just go to work and deal with it. Often, when they are dealing with other agency’s work, they’re not having their meal breaks when everyone else is,” he said.
“They’re not eating dinner at six o’clock at night, they’re eating dinner at 11 o’clock before they go to bed. “
When it came to child safety, the report said police often had difficulty contacting Child Safety Services outside of business hours, and that there were extensive delays.
It also found officers faced “constant” pushback on tasks considered within the responsibilities of CSS.
Mr Tilley said child safety funding needed to increase.
“I don’t think those departments do it on purpose, they’re just not specifically funded to the point where they need to be,” he said.
A Department for Education, Children and Young People spokesperson said $21.5m had been allocated in the state budget for 48 additional child safety officers.
“An after hours emergency child safety service operates outside business hours, between 5.00pm and 8.30am, Monday to Friday and on weekends,” they said.
“Child Safety Service social workers are available by phone and can arrange in person child safety support where there is an immediate safety risk for a child or young person.”
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