The Liberals would add an extra 200 police officers to the ACT and build a police station in the Molonglo Valley as part of a $60 million suite of election commitments.
The party has also vowed to change bail laws to remove presumption in favour of bail for people charged with assaulting front-line workers and establish a standalone offence for breaching bail conditions.
Electronic monitoring for serious offenders on bail would be introduced if the party wins government in October, and the party has promised a "crackdown" on dangerous driving that would include "tougher penalties for the offences of culpable driving".
The Liberals, which have been in opposition for more than two decades, would spend $5 million on upgrading the Woden police station, work on options for a new police station in the city centre and continue work to hand over a joint emergency services centre in Gungahlin to police.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said every Canberran deserved to feel safe when they were in the community and in their own home.
"A Canberra Liberals government will re-prioritise community safety through boosting our police force, building a stronger justice system, and bringing our laws back into line with community expectation," Ms Lee said.
"Labor and the Greens have seriously eroded public confidence in our justice system. A Canberra Liberals government will deliver a comprehensive suite of initiatives that will restore confidence and trust in our justice system."
Peter Cain, the shadow attorney-general, said the Liberals intended changes to bail laws and criminal penalties would bring the justice system back into line with community expectations.
"The Canberra Liberals are sending a clear message: we will build a stronger justice system to make our city safer for all," Mr Cain said.
James Milligan, the Liberal spokesman on police, said adding an extra 200 police officers would bring the ACT into line with NSW's per capita rate of police.
"This announcement is about not only supporting our police officers but ensuring the safety of all Canberrans," Mr Milligan said.
The ACT government handed $205.5 million to the Australian Federal Police in 2022-23 to purchase police services for the territory.
"Meeting the complexity and high demand of incidents reported to police is an ongoing challenge," the most recent ACT Policing annual report said.
ACT Policing had 731 sworn police officers at June 30, 2023, working across an average of about 692 full-time equivalent positions. More than 1000 people work for ACT Policing.
Police Minister Mick Gentleman in June said the ACT unveiled in 2023 an "unprecedented commitment to enhance community safety by investing more than $107 million in the recruitment of 126 ACT Policing personnel over five years, the largest single investment ever made in ACT Policing".
"The government will continue to monitor demand on ACT Policing as the territory grows, and we will continue to work with the AFP to ensure that we maintain a fit-for-purpose policing capability for the ACT," Mr Gentleman said.
Neil Gaughan, the former ACT chief police officer, broke ranks with the government in December 2022, describing the demand for ACT police services as "exceeding supply". He said there was a need "to balance that up" with more resources.
"The thing that is critical is that, as we continue to grow so quickly, is that we look at a model going forward where we police numbers are linked to population increases," then deputy commissioner Gaughan said.
"I just don't see how we could do it any other way."
Repeated Productivity Commission reports show the ACT to have a dramatically lower operational police-to-population ratio than anywhere else in the country.
The government has faced considerable public pressure this term over the criminal justice system's response to dangerous driving, including sentences handed down in court and the administration of bail.
The Justice Reform Initiative, a national group backed by former Supreme Court justices, Assembly members, police and chief ministers, has previously warned the territory needed to avoid "knee-jerk" reactions to tragic deaths on the roads that led to tougher bail and parole laws.
The Canberra Liberals have also sought to direct blame for limited police responses to lower-level crimes at the ACT government, which the opposition has repeatedly argued has failed to adequately resource the territory's police force.
But assaults and incidents of family violence are among the few crime types to continue an upward climb in the ACT after the territory last year recorded its lowest number of total offences in five years, data released in January showed.
