The New South Wales Police Association has accused the State Government of misleading the public about police officer numbers.

The Association is calling on Police Minister Michael Daley to provide an accurate count of the number of officers working on the frontline.

Police Association president Scott Weber says the Government is fudging police numbers by counting officers on leave without pay and secondments.

He says crime will go up and people will be injured if there are not enough officers on the street.

"The official figures are wrong and we have 400 fewer officers than we should to tackle crime," he said.

"This occurs because they utilise part-time officers as full-time officers, but also because NSW Police have numerous secondments across Australia and in the state of NSW, and there's also a hundred officers that are seconded to other police forces."

Deputy Police Commissioner Dave Owens says whether the official figures are accurate or not is a matter for the State Government.

But he says the police force is like any big organisation and has people working in different capacities at different times.

"We have people on leave, both sick leave and annual leave. We also have people on secondment; we also have them doing various courses," he said.

"Now we have part-time workers, we have people returning from maternity leave. They are all valued members of our organisation and they all contribute greatly to make sure that NSW is a much safer place."