The Police Association is calling for better pay and for officers to be paid overtime to stop the drain of cops shifting across the Tasman.
It comes after it was revealed on Monday that 77 officers are leaving to work in Queensland and close to 20 are heading to the Northern Territory, according to figures from Australian police.
This follows major recruitment campaigns from Queensland and Northern Territory police to poach Kiwi cops.
Police Association president Chris Cahill told AM on Tuesday he's never seen as much interest in officers wanting to make the move as there is now.
He told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green we can no longer rely on the goodwill of officers to work overtime without compensation.
"They do it [work overtime] when it's a disruption to their family and the best they can hope for is time off in lieu for that, but then police make them take it when it suits the police, not when it suits their whānau, so officers are sort of bearing the brunt at both ends," he said.
"The time has come for officers to be paid overtime, the same as nurses, the same as fire, the same as all police forces we are aware of around the world. When you've got unprecedented demand in New Zealand, the simple fact is you're going to need officers to work overtime to meet that demand."
With so many officers leaving the force for Australia it has raised questions whether there will be the resources to act on the incoming Government's promise to be tough on crime.
Cahill told AM he's worried about the "snowball" effect the draining of officers could have and he warns the numbers revealed on Monday could still increase.
"I'm really concerned about the snowball effect. I've never seen as much interest, whether it's when I'm out in stations talking to young officers," he said.
"I know Queensland has a big wing going on in January and those officers that go on that wouldn't actually resign till December, so we may not know until then how big a threat we've got."
Cahill believes a big issue facing the force is the amount of time officers spend on mental health and family harm cases, which are health cases not criminal offending.
"We've got to address the demand issues. The reality is we spend far too much time on things like mental health, which is a health issue, not a policing issue," he said.
"People in mental health distress don't need a police officer the majority of the time. They need an expert on mental health. If we could take police out of that space, that would free up significant resources.
"We've got a major problem with family harm and how much time police spend at those incidents. There needs to be triaging there to take out those things that actually aren't criminal offending and just look after the people that are actually at risk in those incidents."
Police told AM it's aware of recent campaigns by Australian police to target New Zealand police staff.
Police say fewer than 20 officers as of early October have moved to Australia. Over the same period, New Zealand Police's attrition rate has been declining.
Police say it has been working hard to make sure New Zealand Police is a workplace where people feel valued and safe and the pay negotiation process is still ongoing.
Watch the full interview with Chris Cahill in the video above.
