Government workplace rules, which the Australian Federal Police are subject to and apply to office-based public servants as well, were not fit for the law enforcement agency, the trade union said.

Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana explained the policy imposed salary caps and required the cutting of terms and conditions to deliver any modest salary increases in the name of efficiency.

It was limiting the capability of the large force expected to undertake a critical role in the country's security, he said.

The inflexibility of the industrial tool meant federal police force had become the lowest-paid force in the country and were forced to halt work during major operations because of budgetary limitations.

A major drug operation in Canberra, for example, could be brought to a sudden stop if officers had logged too much overtime, he said.

"Other jurisdictions are left to either pick it up and continue running it by themselves, or the job stops where it is until the overtime bucket is filled back up," Mr Caruana said.

"It's quite embarrassing for the members involved and it's quite embarrassing for the bosses involved.

"Because of a document that we can't change too much, you open the door for crooks to get away with crimes."

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While police were given some additional benefits to public servants, such as an additional two weeks of annual leave, Mr Caruana explained it was due to some of the freedoms federal officers had to sacrifice for the job.

"Even if you turn those two weeks leave into real dollars, it doesn't bring [AFP officers] up to the pay level of a general public servant, or a general police officer in another jurisdiction," he said.

"The policy has done a really good job of what it was intended to do and that was just to slow wage growth."

In June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews both praised the work of the federal police after it worked with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to take down a global network of criminal operations.

Hundreds of alleged offenders were charged and millions of dollars were seized in the operation.

"Australians should be very proud of the Australian Federal Police. What has been demonstrated today is that here in Australia, we have world-leading policing capabilities," Ms Andrews said in June.

"We are very fortunate in this country to have police enforcers that are of the capability of the Australian Federal Police."

Mr Caruana said if the government wanted the law enforcement agency to remain world-leading, crucial things needed to change.

"You can't do that without investing some money and the number one asset in any organisation is your people," he said.

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