Interesting to see the South Australian Police Association today expressing serious concerns about a similarly ridiculous proposal.


SA News
Police officers have rejected a new 50-50 gender recruitment quota
April 21, 2016 12:43am
STEVE RICEPOLICE REPORTERThe Advertiser

POLICE officers have rejected “rigid” gender recruitment quotas amid claims they will compromise public safety by lowering standards.
The Police Association has criticised the imposition of a 50-50 recruitment policy it says dictates gender is more important than ability when selecting new officers.
Opposition to the quota — introduced on January 1 this year — comes as new figures reveal 22 per cent fewer men would be recruited as police officers because of their gender.
Police have denied excluding men or lowering standards, saying the 50-50 recruitment policy is a “win-win situation” for the community and people wishing to become officers.
It says recruiting equal numbers of men and women is part of a plan to promote a modern, professional workforce.
But Police Association president Mark Carroll told The Advertiser:
“The goal is to be an employer of choice.”
“The challenge for all professional occupations is to attract quality applicants — men and women — who possess the requisite aptitude, skills, values and education standards,” he said.
“Any applicant who reaches the necessary high standards should not be denied employment based on rigid gender quotas.
“Likewise, an overnight change to long-established recruitment practices that does not take into account the reasons many women leave the police force misses the point entirely.
“A rigid policy to recruit equal numbers of men and women doesn’t address this problem.”
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens announced in December last year a 50-50 recruitment policy to address gender imbalance within the force.
Mr Stevens said the changes would be introduced to ensure police better represented the community it served.
Freedom of Information figures obtained by The Advertiser reveal that, between 2012 and 2015, 75 per cent of police force applicants were men.
The figures also show that, during the same period, there were 443 men — or 72 per cent — among the 615 new officers recruited.
Based on those figures under the 50-50 gender recruitment policy, 22 per cent fewer men would be employed in favour of women.
Mr Carroll said the union was concerned about the ability of the police force to retain both men and women.
He said female officers left the force, on average, after seven to eight years of service.
“We argue that SAPOL needs to recognise that men and women — at certain points in their careers — require flexible working arrangements to balance family commitments,” he said.
“In a 24/7, 365-day-a-year occupation, finding that balance is a unique challenge, but it is not insurmountable.
“The police profession already offers highly competitive employment conditions as well as diverse and unique fields of endeavour within the job.
“This is an important feature of the job and it enables it to attract the right type of recruit regardless of gender.”
Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire, who sought the FoI figures, said policies such as gender quotas would not necessarily deliver the best outcome for an organisation.
Mr Brokenshire said there was a risk of missing out on the best talent with a 50-50 recruitment policy, which left men at a disadvantage in their opportunities to become a police officer.
“If the best talent is more women than men then fine but it should be on talent and ability and not on a quota,” he said.
“Policing is one of the most complex occupations in society and therefore you need to ensure you have the best possible skill mix.”
Mr Brokenshire said he had spoken with men who were concerned about the increased difficulty of becoming police officers.
“There is a risk that men may decide their chances are going to be even slimmer now with a 50-50 gender policy and go and look elsewhere for a career,” he said.
“If the best talent pool is 90 per cent women and 10 per cent men in a given year then you take 90 per cent women but you look at the talent pool not at a policy of 50-50 at all costs.”
A police spokesman said its recruitment standards “are and will remain high” and that gender parity was not about excluding men or lowering standards.
“Growing a fair, equitable workplace has the benefit of attracting the right sort of person — men and women — into our job,” he said.
“It is a win-win situation for the community as well as for every person who desires to become a police officer.”
The spokesman said police needed to reflect the community it served, having traditionally been an occupation for men.
“We are promoting a modern, professional workforce in a way that aims to attract more applications from women right now who might not have considered a policing career in the past,” he said.