VICTORIAN police stationed at Melbourne Airport say they are bored and disillusioned, and airport security is compromised by poor communications networks.

About 50 state police work under the command of the Australian Federal Police at the airport as a result of recommendations made by the 2005 Wheeler report into airport security.

Some have said they do little more than walk around terminals in an effort to make passengers feel secure. However, one policeman told The Age yesterday that doubling the number of police at the airport would not stop an attack of the sort made in Glasgow this week.

The report, compiled by British security expert Sir John Wheeler at the behest of Prime Minister John Howard, criticised the lack of co-operation between state and federal authorities in charge of airport security.

The states agreed to lend police to the AFP. But by late last month, only 111 of the promised 365 state police had been provided, although all Victoria's contingent was in place.

Victorian police have described themselves as "cardboard cut-outs". "It's simply not busy enough. It was sold along the lines that we'd be putting operations together to do covert work, setting up special operations teams, basically what you do at stations," the policeman said. "But it's just not busy enough to have 55 coppers there. It's one of the biggest issues we have, motivation and morale, because you don't do anything."

Another policeman said there was friction with other organisations, including the AFP and Customs, and many Victorian police were trying to move back to normal duties.

The most serious accusation is that the AFP radio network is responsible for long delays on licence or name checks. Police say that it can be up to 10 minutes before the results come through the AFP system in Canberra, far longer than Victoria Police's LEAP system takes.

"It's obviously unsafe. I dare say the airport's a target in someone's mind at the moment … (but) you try to do a car check or name check and it takes 10 minutes. It's ridiculous," one policeman said.

However, a spokeswoman for the AFP said that though there might have been problems in the past, the communications system was now operating satisfactorily and even had access to the VicPol database. The role of the state police was to perform normal, "community" duties but they were also rotated to work on serious and organised crime related to aviation.

"The AFP continues to work with the seconded VicPol members to address any cultural or operational challenges arising from their deployment."

The spokeswoman said that of 55 state police, only three had been transferred back to VicPol, and there were 33 applicants for two sergeant jobs at the airport.

Police Association secretary Paul Mullett likened the deployment to the airport to Mr Howard's call for state police to be sent to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

It was policy on the run by Mr Howard, he said.

"He hurriedly put together the Wheeler review, that made a number of recommendations, including the deployment of the state police.

"As it was policy making on the run, when it was rolled out, there wasn't a lot of thought put into how the whole thing would work."

Victoria Police directed inquiries to the AFP.

Source:  Dan Oakes, The Age