ACT police have sought to assure the Canberra public there was no risk to the community as Minister Mick Gentleman expressed his concern about the latest ramping on the weekend of industrial action by NSW police.
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"I'm quite concerned about this action; I'm not sure it is lawful industrial action, I would really have to look at the detail of it," Mr Gentleman, who was a former union representative before entering politics, said on Monday.
"It does have some impact on our operations, particularly [search] warrants into NSW.
"ACT police have been working with NSW on how we best get through this."
The latest scale-up of industrial action by NSW has specifically targeted its previously close working relationship with ACT Policing, which is a $200 million per year contracted "outcome", funded by the ACT government, of the Australian Federal Police.
NSW police began its industrial campaign several weeks ago seeking a halt to mandatory death and disability insurance premiums being counted as contributions to officers' superannuation. Initially support services were withdrawn from Commonwealth agencies and on Friday the focus switched to ACT Policing.
The ACT's acting Commander of Operations, Richard Breiner, sought to quell community concerns that offenders from the ACT potentially could flee over the border and escape extradition. However, this would depend on the seriousness of the offence as police on both sides of the border have pledged to intervene if there was any harm or riskthreatened.
"There will be some administrative and process matters that will be affected [by the action]," he said.
"It may slow down court dates, it may slow down summonses, subpoenas, that sort of thing but as far as the safety of the community goes, there is no impact."
He said there were no current cross-border investigations which were affected currently however, the longer the campaign drags on, the more likely this will happen.
Superintendent Breiner said he had spoken with the leadership group at the Monaro District Command, which has its headquarters in Queanbeyan, and they had pledged to "continue with business as usual, as much as is practicable".
However, he admitted this campaign would have an impact on ACT resourcing.
"For instances, we may our officers who are NSW special constables, go over the border to serve summons, those sorts of things, that we usually get NSW to do for us," he said.
"The exact impact on what ACT Policing can and can't do, and how that evolves, is being worked through."
He said he understood it was "their right to launch industrial action to make their point".
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One of the major sticking points which will emerge over time is the intelligence-gathering issue - which will be particularly difficult for the federal arm of the police - and also the requirement to obtain witness statements from NSW-based residents to prosecute cases in the ACT.
Usually NSW police would obtain these statements and pass them to the ACT police. This will stop under the industrial action.
The ACT has an unspecified number of officers - almost all of its traffic members, a large majority of its detectives and a small number of general duties members - who are conferred with special powers to police across the border.
As the industrial action continues, more and more of these ACT officers will be drawn away from their regular duties to perform these roles.
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