Ministerial Statement

POLICE CALL CENTRE

The SPEAKER: I call the Minister for Defence Industries.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Given none of you will ever serve nine years as a minister, you wouldn't know what it's like.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs Redmond: You'll eat those words one day.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I'll eat those words? What will you be then—74?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Police, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Motor Sport, Minister Assisting the Premier with the Olympic Dam Expansion Project) (15:12): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The SPEAKER: Minister, could you keep your remarks to your statement?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: There will be calls for fresh faces by then. On 14 September 2010 my predecessor, the Hon. Michael Wright MP, announced that a comprehensive review would be conducted into a call to the 131 444 police assistance line on 11 September 2010 by Ms Pirjo Kemppainen.

The review was wide ranging and examined the handling of the matter of the call centre, including action taken in response to the call, standard operating procedures, level of training and supervision for call centre operators—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —deficiencies in the manner in which the call was handled, any matter—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: What's your problem, Mitch? You want to listen?

Mr Williams: Get on with it!

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, could you go back to your statement, please, and ignore the comments coming from my left.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, it's an important matter, and I would have thought that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition would actually want to listen, but, clearly, he has other things he wants to talk about.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, how about you shut up and listen?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: There will be no quarrels across the floor.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —deficiencies in the manner in which the call was handled, any matter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, I'm just not going to talk above the interjections and noise from members opposite today.

Mr Williams: Just get on with it. Just because you're no longer the deputy leader—

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for MacKillop, behave!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —any matter which may have contributed to the way the call was handled, and whether any changes to policy and procedures, training, supervision or any other matters, are needed. I can advise the house that the review has been completed and I have had the opportunity to consider the final report. I am also able to advise that Ms Sarah Bolt, head of the Independent Police Complaints Authority, has reviewed the conduct of the investigation, its conclusions and recommendations. In a letter dated 6 January 2011 to the Commissioner of Police, Ms Bolt advises:

I am satisfied that Superintendent Barr of State Intelligence Branch, SAPOL, conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the incident.

Ms Bolt goes on to say:

Suffice to say the report raises a number of significant points and recommendations with which I concur.

The seven recommendations, all of which the Commissioner of Police has actioned, and are currently being implemented, are as follows:

1. General Orders will be amended to include guidance to employees as to when a police patrol should be sent.

2. The call centre standard operating procedures, Criteria for Taking Police Incident Reports(PIRs), will be amended to reflect that PIRs can be taken for minor crime with no other criteria.

3. The call centre standard operating procedure regarding the taking of PIRs will be amended to have operators ask victims if there are any other related incidents, and include this information on PIRs.

4. A disciplinary inquiry into the call centre operator will be conducted in relation to the way that call was handled.

5. The call centre training regime will be documented in call centre branch policy.

6. The call monitoring program will be documented in the call centre branch policy.

7. The implementation project will consider the efficacy of the call centre survey.

The report concludes that the handling of the call by the operator represented a serious lapse in judgement in providing an appropriate police response to Ms Kemppainen's circumstances. The call was not handled in accordance with the call centre's standard operating procedures and a patrol should have been dispatched in response to her call. The report rules out staffing levels within the call centre as a factor in the way this call was handled. In fact, during Ms Kemppainen's call, there were no other calls waiting to be answered.

While staffing levels were not a factor, it is important to point out that resourcing and the operations of the call centre are continuously assessed and adjustments made to ensure services are of a high standard. Furthermore, South Australia Police receive thousands of calls every year to the 131 444 assistance line, and the number of formal complaints compared to the contacts indicates there is a high level of customer satisfaction with the service. In the past five years, the 131 444 police assistance line received over 1.8 million calls. In that same period, just 24 complaints against call centre personnel were made.

Advice from the officer in charge of Major Crime Investigation Branch, Detective Superintendent Grant Moyle, recommends that the full report—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: —should not be released at this time whilst the prosecution of the alleged offender is proceeding. In addition, the conduct of the investigation, its conclusions and recommendations have been scrutinised by the independent Police Complaints Authority, therefore, the public interest in accountability has been satisfied. For these reasons, I will defer further consideration of the tabling of the report until all legal proceedings are finalised.

There is no doubt that Ms Kemppainen's call should have been handled differently and a patrol car should have been sent. Lessons have been learnt and SAPOL has begun implementing changes to practices, procedures, policies and general orders, which I am confident will prevent a repetition of the shortcomings identified.

SAPOL is not perfect, but it continuously strives to improve its internal and external service delivery. It recognises that the community is its first priority and its services should meet the community's needs and expectations. The reality is, there are thousands of police officers doing an outstanding job on a daily basis. They have millions of public contacts and, on the whole, provide an exceptional service to the public and to the people of South Australia.