HQ shakeup reconnects police and their chiefs

Photo / File

A restructure of police headquarters has helped reduce the disconnection between frontline police and the top brass sitting in "bullshit castle", Police Commissioner Peter Marshall says.

Mr Marshall, who was brought in to the top job last year to speed up the police culture change, is soon expecting the latest update on the police response to Dame Margaret Bazley's commission of inquiry in 2007, which received 313 complaints of sexual assault against 222 police officers.

The annual update from PricewaterhouseCoopers follows a report from the consultancy last year that was highly critical, citing an inconsistent management style and a disconnection between head office and officers on the ground.

But it did not find that police suffered from entrenched corruption.

"Senior management lacks the confidence and adeptness to make bold, circuit-breaking and symbolic moves that will change the DNA of the organisation," last year's report said.

One staff member had said: "The commissioner and all his mates in 'bullshit castle' at headquarters should get back on the street and get a reality check."

Mr Marshall said he expected the next report, due in February or March, to be far less damning.

"We're confident we have done an awful lot since then and we expect a far more favourable report this time around.

"For instance, the police executive was nearly 30 people. I've reduced that to 14. I have started the process of refreshment and rejuvenation, moving senior people to various locations and drawing down the number of policing areas we have from 43 ...

"We have completely restructured our organisation. I spend two days every week out in the districts, my other executive colleagues do exactly the same.

"I have created three assistant commissioner positions and they are an absolute conduit between the districts and headquarters."

He rejected the claim that the headquarters team lived in "bullshit castle".

"In an organisation of 12,000 people, there will always be the odd throwaway comment from some disgruntled constable in the back blocks of wherever."

He noted public confidence in police was 82 per cent.