The Law Society of NSW welcomes the NSW Government’s announcement of devotion of significant new funding to bolster policing across the state.

But President Doug Humphreys has warned it could add to existing backlogs and delays in the justice process if it is not matched by additional resourcing for the courts.

“Resourcing police must be backed up by adequate resourcing for the rest of the justice system,” Mr Humphreys said.

“Many victims of crime are already languishing for long periods waiting for justice because the courts do not have sufficient resources to manage the existing cases.

“Additional resources must be given to the court, the Director of Public Prosecutions and to Legal Aid NSW to cope with the down-stream effects of more police.”

Mr Humphreys said a 2.2 per cent growth in the number of defendants dealt with by the criminal courts in NSW in the past year exacerbated overcrowding in the state’s jails and added to excessive delays in the number of cases before the courts.

“NSW is spending more on prisons than ever before,” Mr Humphreys said.

“Surely as a society we would prefer to spend our money on more teachers, nurses and fire-fighters than keeping people locked up who could be more promptly dealt with if the courts were able to.”