Equal Pay ?

As some wag would probably describe it, it seems that " CSI is on strike ! ".   In New South Wales the eight hundred  technicians in the Forensic Services Group that attend crime scenes to recover fingerprints are refusing to perform this function - because they demand equal pay with sworn uniformed police officers.   They - along with the rest of the public service - have had pay rises capped at 2.5%.

This is an indefinite strike and in addition to refusing to fingerprint crime scenes they will no longer provide expert evidence certification at criminal trials or coronial investigations.  As a result, uniformed police will undertake this workload which will decrease their availability to carry out general policing duties.

These forensic officers claim that they do the same work as police at crime scenes but are receiving significantly less pay.  That is a typical union " argy bargy " deception to cloud the issue and it is quite clear that forensic people carry none of the risks and responsibilities of wearing a police uniform.   The police are the first on any crime scene that poses a danger and forensics only attends when that danger has been removed.  That Lindt cafe siege would be a very good example.

When a gunman took hostages the police cleared the street and setup armed marksmen to cover the situation.  Negotiators moved in and the siege lasted for most of the day.  When the gunman killed a hostage the police had no other option than to put their lives at risk by bursting in to the cafe with the expectation that a bomb could be detonated and that they would come under fire.  There was a high expectation that there would be police casualties.

The gunman was taken down. Paramedics treated the wounded and when the cafe crime scene was made safe - forensics moved in.  At no stage were their lives at risk and it is hard to see where they can seriously claim to do the same work as uniformed police officers.    They are not identified - and at public risk - by the uniform they wear and they do not carry a firearm - and with that the risk of exchanging fire with bandits when armed robberies occur.

They are certainly skilled technicians and those skills must be recognised in their pay scale but they are civilian employees and not subjected to the demands imposed on a warranted officer in either the police force or the military.   Both of these services require those who choose these vocations to put their lives on the line.

The police are a first response unit.  Often they are faced with situations of a burning crashed car and the need to pull driver and passengers clear - at immense risk to their own lives.  Even attending a routine " domestic " is charged with danger and recently a senior police officer trying to defuse an emotional situation was killed in a knife attack.   This Islamic State jihad specifically urges the radicalized to attack and kill uniformed police officers.

This seems a senseless strike based on very shaky principles.  The longer it lasts the more danger it will deliver to the public because the " thin blue line " will be stretched even thinner as regular police time will be taken doing the functions normally performed by forensics.   In particular, it is quite likely that valuable clues may be missed because of this added time pressure and this strike will be a boon to any jihadist planning a terror attack in Sydney.

Police and forensics serve a complimentary function in keeping the city safe, but there is a vast gulf between the danger factor facing uniformed and civilian operatives !