Shadow Minister for Police Paul Toole has backed the NSW Police Association’s move to no longer conduct prisoner transfers, as police want to get back to doing what they do best, and that is policing.

From July 7, police across the state will begin refusing to transport inmates to and from court, supervise prisoners in courtrooms, or house them in police stations once they’ve been bail refused.

Police believe these tasks clearly fall under the responsibility of Corrective Services and Juvenile Justice.

Mr Toole said this comes well after the Police Association of NSW warned Premier Chris Minns and Minister for Police Yasmin Catley of this 12 months ago at the Police Association Conference.

“Clearly they have not done anything about it,” he said. “The decision to cease prisoner transport duties is long-overdue as the situation has been putting both public safety and frontline policing at risk.

“Our police are not prison guards, they’re not taxi drivers for criminals, and they should not be expected to play this role.

“Regional police are being pulled from frontline duties to drive prisoners hundreds of kilometres, often sleeping overnight in stations and leaving entire communities without police coverage.

“We’ve got police in the bush off the beat for days, towns left vulnerable, and officers burnt out — all because the Government refuses to properly resource Corrective Services.”

The NSW Opposition questioned Minister Catley at the most recent budget estimates hearing on Labor’s commitment made to the Police Association in 2024 to address this issue.

Mr Toole said the Minister agreed she was aware of the matter, but was not aware of any steps that had been made to reaching a resolution nor committed to prioritising this matter.

“This is a damning failure by the Minns Labor Government and a Minister who has completely dropped the ball,” he said.

“We back our cops 100 per cent, but they need more than words. They need a government that stands with them, not against them.

"The Government was warned of this, and they’ve done nothing. Now they’ve got a crisis of their own making.

“Enough is enough.

“The Minister must fix this broken system now, stop hiding behind excuses and start delivering real solutions.”