The Police Association of Tasmania is correct, the public would be better served to have officers tackling crime rather than manning quarantine hotels.
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President Colin Riley says 5 per cent of the police force is dedicated to quarantine compliance. A fair chunk.
However, we are amid a global pandemic and many organisations have had to adapt and help out for the greater good.
Tasmania Police is no exception.
They are the organisation the community trusts most to ensure mercy flight passengers and others in quarantine adhere to rules and regulations so Tasmanians can live their lives relatively unrestricted.
Victoria showed us how quickly things can unravel when people flout rules and untrusted organisations are left in charge.
So for the Police Association of Tasmania to say the community is "jeopardised" because officers are assigned to hotels is looking at the situation with tunnel vision.
As pointed out, "the job of Tasmania Police is to ensure the community is safe with regards public order, criminal investigation, traffic policing and emergency management".
This is an emergency of a lifetime, so of course, it's management should be high on the list of priorities.
But it's difficult to believe that the other three aspects of police have been severely impacted that it is necessary to scare Tasmanians into thinking they will be robbed in the middle of the night and no help will arrive.
We want police on the beat. But, it's important to remember that there is an end date for hotel quarantine.
Tasmania has committed to three mercy flights - these are flights where the passengers are Australians who have been trying since March to return home to the safety of Australia. All up that's about 42 days of quarantine -if no more flights arrive.
Tasmania's battle has often relied on an element of trust with people asked to quarantine at home. While you would hope everyone arriving on our shores would respect the rules, it would only take one person for our state to go significantly backwards. That is simply not worth the risk.