Major investigations shelved to prop up COVID duties, says police association

Alex Caruana, the president of the Australian Federal Police Association, has offered the first real public insight into how police resources have been stretched as a result of the pandemic.

He said the bushfires of the Black Summer last year "had strained our members both physically and mentally and then we rolled straight into the pandemic" where many had been sidelined "because of contamination or close contamination".

"It has stretched the police force very, very thin across the ACT," he said.

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"Members are telling us that because of the pandemic and because members have been put aside to do the doorknocks and the COVID compliance - which we support - other crime types and teams that are fighting crime types have been stood down."

The association gave its views during ACT Assembly committee online public hearings on Friday.

He said crime-targeting teams, fraud and organised crime teams had now been stood down to prop up what are now called the "business as usual" teams for COVID compliance.

"We don't have the bodies or the depth to support ongoing crime teams or investigation teams," he said.

"I've even been told of some cross-jurisdictional jobs where a resolution was planned, however, due to 60-odd people being moved out of the crime teams into frontline policing or COVID compliance, a resolution with NSW police didn't occur because they didn't have the police numbers to do it."

Despite requests from The Canberra Times for the number of police required to quarantine because of close contact with COVID-infected members of the community, this number was not provided.

It has only been confirmed on at least one occasion, two members who arrested a man infected with COVID had to be stood down and the City watch house deep-cleaned.

On Thursday, ACT Health confirmed 56 of its team members had been stood down and forced to quarantine during the current outbreak.

"Police have been at the front line and keeping the community safe during this whole time with very, very few complaints," Mr Caruana said.

"We know that work-life balance has been stretched and yet police are going about their job and being professional every day."

AFP officers want the federal government to put the force on a similar footing to Defence members with the introduction of a so-called "blue card", which would cover work-related health issues in a similar fashion to the "white card" issued to military members.

The ACT's acting chief police officer Peter Crozier on Thursday confirmed the shared border compliance role with the Defence Force would end and "our policing members will move back into a more traditional way you see of doing things".

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