Ministerial Statement

POLICE NUMBERS

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee—Minister for Police, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:03): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT: Ensuring that South Australians are safe and secure in their homes and on our streets is fundamental to ensuring that South Australia is a great place to live and raise a family. Today I place on record the landmark achieved by South Australia Police in recruiting more than 4,400 officers. By Wednesday next week there will be 4,403 full-time equivalent officers in South Australia—700 more sworn officers than when the Rann government came to office in 2002.

As Minister for Police I am honoured to be a member of a government that has delivered on a commitment to bolster police numbers to their highest level in the state's history—and we are not stopping there. Now that we have achieved our target of 4,400 police our focus will shift to recruiting another 300 officers over the next four years. This will mean that by 2014 we will have 1,000 more police on the beat than there were when the government came into office in 2002.

As I speak, 82 recruits, including officers from the United Kingdom and interstate, are graduating after having successfully completed 10 weeks of intense training. The recruits are aged between 24 and 44, with an average age of 36. Next Wednesday a further 18 cadets, all from South Australia, will graduate, leaving a total of 93 cadets still in training at Fort Largs.

I extend a warm welcome to the 24 women and 58 men graduating this afternoon who have previously held various ranks ranging from constable to inspector and who have a combined total of 780 years of policing experience. I can also announce today that 24 of those officers will join the eastern Adelaide LSA, which will coincide with major changes to policing in the Adelaide CBD. The 24 officers will bring to the eastern Adelaide LSA over 230 years of experience from the UK. Their presence will have an immediate impact within the city.

A new seven-week roster has been designed to meet the specific needs of the CBD. SAPOL's peak demand times are Friday and Saturday nights, and the new roster will ensure higher levels of coverage when and where it is needed. I applaud this new initiative by SAPOL, and I am confident that the extra officers will result in improved service delivery and will ultimate lead to a safer CBD.

Our police do an excellent job, and the extra officers will have an important role in helping to make South Australia a better and safer place to live; and, on behalf of the community, I thank them for stepping forward and taking on the challenging role.

Per capita South Australia continues to lead the nation having the highest rate of sworn police officers of any Australian state. South Australia has 303 sworn officers for every 100,000 persons. The next closest state is Western Australia with 287, and Victoria and New South Wales fall far behind with just 206 and 237 respectively. Furthermore, the 2009 report on government services showed that 89.3 per cent of SAPOL staff were assigned to operational duties, the highest in Australia and well above the national average of 83.9 per cent.

There is a clear link—more police and better resources equals a shrinking crime rate. That is why since 2002 the Rann Labor government has given the South Australian police service the officers, resources, equipment and tough laws they need to drive down crime, and we will continue to do so.