'Critical shortages': Detectives filling in for frontline police in the Illawarra

Ahead of the biennial Police Association of NSW conference in Wollongong on Tuesday, May 21, the union's president said more needs to be done to attract and retain cops.

There's currently more than 1500 officer vacancies across NSW, while more than double that number have left their jobs in recent years.

The shortage has led to a decline in proactive policing operations in the Illawarra and statewide, Police Association of NSW president Kevin Morton said.

"We're not seeing as many police officers out there in a high visibility role as we would normally see," he said.

"We're getting our detectives office, our high visibility policing units being utilised for frontline staffing.

"Not having the resources available to do these proactive roles could impact on the community."

Despite the shortages, Mr Morton reassured the community that police will always be available to respond.

"They will always have police there and responding when they call for police, that is the absolute focus of the NSW Police Force and it's the focus of my members as well," he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb will speak at the PANSW conference on Tuesday at the Novotel, along with Minister for Police Yasmin Catley, NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, Shadow Minister for Police Paul Toole and PANSW president Kevin Morton.

Last week, in a continued effort to bolster police numbers age limits were lowered, police from other jurisdictions including New Zealand are being encourage to join NSW Police, new regional cops are being encouraged to stay in their own areas after graduation.

This comes after changes announced in March, where trainee officers will be paid while completing their 16-week course, which the government has credited with helping to fill an entire class of 350 recruits.