POLICE on rostered days off are being called in to work overtime to transport prisoners to courts as the Hunter Valley grapples with severe staffing shortages.
Police union members in Cessnock have started redirecting non-urgent jobs to other relevant agencies and have vowed to continue until staffing levels reach at least 75 per cent.
The Newcastle Herald understands numbers at Cessnock are fluid but at times have dipped as low as 50 per cent.
Similar Police Association NSW (PANSW) motions regarding the re-allocation of jobs due to short-staffing have now spread to the rest of the Hunter Valley and to Brisbane Waters on the Central Coast.
Front-line police in the Hunter Valley have been picking up inmates and driving them to courts, a Corrective Services NSW responsibility, which has been "killing" them, PANSW Northern executive member Paul Ireland said.
He said the district's commander had been working with the union to bring in strategies to help combat the issues.
Mr Ireland said one solution had been "recall to duty", where officers on rostered days off work overtime to transport prisoners, relieving on-duty police from having to perform those duties.
"It's definitely a short-term fix ... that highlights the so-called 'psycho-social' risks associated with burnout," he said.
He said local commanders were doing what they could but the NSW Police Commissioner's executive team needed to come to the table.
The motion passed by the Cessnock PANSW branch earlier this month means members will not carry out health-related jobs like inter-hospital mental health transports and welfare checks on absconders.
It also covered jobs like some truancy and bail checks, community events, training courses, stationary random breath testing, some missing person reports, animal control and called on staffing orders for events like wine country concerts to be on a user-pays basis.
Mr Ireland said the action would continue, and would be adapted as needed, until staffing levels in both the Cessnock and Hunter Valley PANSW branch areas reached 75 per cent.
He previously said police were staring down the barrel of burnout with an increasing workload and less time to rest between shifts.
Mr Ireland said the Northern Region had been fortunate to have high levels of experience but was now learning to deal with a less experienced workforce in locations like the Hunter Valley.
He said an answer to staff shortages had been to increase probationary constables through recruitment, but when you "flood a district" with officers with less than a year of work under their belts, "it makes a big impact".
Police have reassured the community that the action would not put them in danger and their calls for help would always be answered.
"The main focus of everybody is that public safety won't be put at risk," Mr Ireland said.
When contacted by the Herald on Thursday, NSW Police said its stance had not changed since a statement from Commissioner Karen Webb was issued on October 10.
She said at the time she was aware of the PANSW motions and said the force would continue to work with the union and state government.
She said Project Aventus was identifying changes to make police taskings more manageable and her executive team had been asked to discuss strategies to relieve pressure on police.
Commissioner Webb said a number of reforms had been announced aimed at boosting recruitment and operational levels across the organisation.
