Canberra cops will continue to clamp down on family and drunken violence without a boost to the frontline as the federal police union warned ongoing budget pressures were having a "biting" effect on the force.
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Police Minister Simon Corbell directed ACT Policing to focus on domestic and alcohol-related violence, dangerous drivers and restorative justice under the agency's latest contract with the territory government on Tuesday.
He was joined by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin and ACT police chief Rudi Lammers to sign the 2016-17 police purchase agreement, which sets out provisions for the AFP to provide community policing to the ACT.
Mr Corbell said the $155 million contract - up slightly from last year's $152 million agreement - maintained police numbers at an average of 932 employees, on par with last year, which he said provided an "important level of reassurance to the community".
ACT Policing has faced ongoing job losses and spending cuts after the agency was forced to glean more than $15 million in savings from its budget over four years from 2013.
AFP Association national president Angela Smith welcomed the stability in numbers but wanted to see more detail on how those police officers would be distributed, particularly given existing pressures on police and the ACT's booming population.
"The general savings measure on the ACT of 1 per cent is having a biting effect on the numbers and the anecdotal information that I receive back from members, we see that is having a fairly strong effect on members," she said.
"We are struggling to put patrol cars on the roads so that has a morale effect and they just can't continue to function with these continual bitings of the budget."
She said extra police were desperately needed and urged the government to inject more funds into policing to allow an increase in staff numbers.
"We just can't get enough police officers in patrols so some areas are quite thin on the ground and that's a safety issue for my members and it's a safety issue for our community," she said.
Assistant Commissioner Lammers reiterated frontline policing numbers would not be affected under the contract and the force's presence in the ACT had increased in the past four years to include, at times, close to 1000 police.
"It means the men and women of ACT Policing are working smarter, they're working better, they're working more collegiately particularly with our partners, to deliver a real policing presence," he said.
"The Canberra community will still enjoy a responsive, effective police force, as it has done in previous years."
This year's ministerial direction included a fresh focus on the ACT's restorative justice program, which has been expanded to take in adult offenders and more serious crimes, including a high target rate of Indigenous young people referrals.
An emphasis on domestic and family abuse, which included extra training for police, was tied to ACT Policing's dedicated community safety and family violence teams and complemented the government's $21 million funding package announced in this year's budget.
There would also be continued efforts to enforce road safety and reduce alcohol-fuelled violence in the city's entertainment precincts.
This year's purchase agreement will be the last signed by Mr Corbell, who quits the Legislative Assembly at this year's election, and Assistant Commissioner Lammers, who will retire at the end of the year.
Commissioner Colvin congratulated Assistant Commissioner Lammers for his service and said he would continue to speak with Mr Corbell and the ACT government on the search for a new police chief.
"I can assure you and the community whoever does come in as the CPO hits the ground running, gets to pick up the legacy that Rudi and his predecessors have left behind and will serve the community very well," he said.
