A THIRD of the Queensland Police Service top cops are set to lose their jobs.
A sweeping review ordered by new Police Commissioner Ian Stewart is likely to see 150 commissioned officers - those ranked Inspector or higher - to be cut.
Of about 10,600 officers in the Queensland Police Service, more than 400 are commissioned officers.
The cuts will deliver a cost-saving to the Newman Government but it is unsure just how much and how the savings will be redistributed across the Queensland police Service - if at all.
Commissioner Stewart is expected to brief senior executive officers this week and it is also understood that the number of police regions will be cut from eight to five.
This has sparked concerns among officers over administering massive new regions, with the new expanded Southern region said to stretch from Birdsville to Bribie Island.
Police sources also said another fear was such a drastic cut-back in senior officers would reduce the supervision of lower ranks - an issue that was highlighted in the recent Operation Tesco report into Gold Coast police by the state's Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Commissioner Stewart confirmed the review had now been completed and said that it represented the first comprehensive appraisal of the QPS structure since the reforms that came following the Fitzgerald inquiry more than 20 years ago.
"We have been very static as an organisation for a very long time and there is a need for greater efficiencies," Mr Stewart said, while stressing that the review had been undertaken on the proviso that there was no discernible reduction in front-line service provision.
Mr Stewart refused to comment on any of the specific recommendations in the review document arguing that the QPS was now entering a consultation phase with its senior ranks, unions and other stakeholders.
"We do not want to unduly worry staff by commenting on speculation but obviously there will be changes," he said.
It is believed that the cuts include: the rank of Chief Superintendent being trimmed from 15 to 6 and the position of Superintendent cut from 60 to 39.
Neither the Queensland Police Union nor the Queensland Police Commission Officers Union would comment as they are bound by confidentiality agreements after being briefed on the plan just before the Christmas-New Year break.
These briefings followed an email from Commissioner Stewart to all QPS staff on December 12 in which he updated them on job losses outlined in the September budget and said more changes were in the wind.
The Courier-Mail understands, however, that as part of the restructure the 31 police districts (which cover areas such as Ipswich, Toowoomba, Warwick, Logan and the Gold Coast) will be reduced to 15.
The wider, regional, command changes are expected to see the effective absorption of the Metropolitan South region into a new and larger Brisbane region, and the Cairns-based Far North region subsumed into a wider, Townsville-based northern region.
At the same time the North Coast region based out of Maroochydore is expected to be merged with the Central region, if the review recommendations are signed off on.
It is understood all three buildings that house the command for these regions are rental properties.
It is also understood areas such as the Police Media Unit, which is the QPS's main conduit for communicating with the public, will also be cut back heavily.
The review was led by Assistant Commissioner Steve Golleschewski and Chief Superintendent Bob Gee..
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