POLICE FORCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 35, 11 February 1943, Page 6

POLICE FORCE

OVERTIME PAYMENT "TIME OFF" ABOLISHED To-day the New Zealand Police Force was officially notified by the Commissioner that an annual allowance in lieu of payment for overtime during the war had been authorised for payment to all members of the force below the rank of sub-in-spector, as from October 1, 1942. This is believed to be the Government's response to the request made by members of the police force, through the Police Association, for an increase in pay of 3/ a day. The allowance will be paid at the rate of one-sixteenth of the annual pay of each member of the force. In future, says the Commissioner* no time off is to be allowed in lieu of overtime worked after October 1 1942, but. no action need be taken in respect of time off already taken for overtime worked since that date Time off may, however, be allowed for any overtime' worked prior to October 1, 1942, for which time off has not yet been taken. The pay of a constable on joining the force is £299 15/ a year, plus £11 a year cost of living allowance The overtime allowance, computed on one-sixteenth of the pay, would in his case be £18 14/8. The cost of living allowance is reduced as the constable's pay increases, and it disappears when his pay reaches £327 2/6 a year, after nine years' service. Expected Much More It was learned to-day that the men expected something more than a wartime allowance in lieu of overtime worked. They work manyhours overtime. The new allowance is worked out on the basis *of two hours' overtime a man a week. Two hours' overtime at the rate of time and a half is equal to three hours ordinary time, the three hours being one-sixteenth of the 48-hcrur week. • "We are going to be worse off than ever," said a constable to-day, "Take the man on beat duty who works from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. If he makes an arrest during that period of duty he has to appear in the Police Court at 10 in the morning. Until now he has been given a ticket by the sergeant in charge of the Court muster authorising him to enjoy two hours off. But from to-day that system is to be abolished. The constable, who loses his sleep by having to come to Court, has to appear in his own time. And there' are many other like instances." "But for all we know the Government, or the Commissioner, might be considering some other method of alleviating the financial position of members of the force, such as increasing the house allowance," said another constable. "We earnestly hope so. Unlike other members of the public service we cannot, without breaking the regulations, work on the wharves in our own time and earn a little extra money."