Question Time

Police Search and Arrest Powers

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police questions relating to police search and arrest powers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The 2014-15 annual report of the Police Ombudsman was tabled in the other place yesterday. The Acting Police Ombudsman found that some police officers were exercising their powers of arrest and powers to search premises, persons and vehicles with mere curiosity, speculation or idle wondering, rather than on the basis of reasonable suspicions. After citing three recent examples of what he perceived to be misuse of this power, the Police Ombudsman goes on to say that, in his view, what amounts to a reasonable cause to suspect is not always understood by operational police, and this area of law requires ongoing attention from the Commissioner of Police.

I am advised that this is the second year in a row that the Police Ombudsman's report has made such a recommendation. My questions to the minister are:

1. Given that the Police Ombudsman has raised concerns in the past, what has SAPOL done in the last 12 months to make sure the police are operating within the law in exercising search and arrest powers?

2. Given that the Police Ombudsman has described the search powers as a serious intrusion against individual liberty, what further steps will the government take to protect the rule of law?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:35): Someone said to me this morning, 'Are you worried about the report in the paper today from the Police Ombudsman?' I said, 'No, not at all,' because it is a fine example of the system working. I am entirely satisfied, and indeed, the annual report from the Ombudsman indicates this, that the issues that are referred to in the report in this morning's Advertiser are indeed isolated events.

In fact, I am advised that in the annual report from the Ombudsman there is a reference to the fact that there are no systemic or cultural issues that exist within SAPOL to suggest that this is a problem of major concern, or one that speaks to a systemic or a cultural problem. Rather, they are idiosyncratic examples of where people may have had a bad day, or there may be some personality issues to do with individual officers, rather than something that represents a greater problem within SAPOL.

That said, that of course doesn't mean we should not be trying to learn from where there have been errors. That has been something that the police commissioner has already committed to and something that he wrote in correspondence to the Police Ombudsman himself. Of course, this morning I have already spoken to the police commissioner regarding the annual report and, again, he was very quick to assure me that the instances that are referred to are few and far between.

SAPOL deal with in excess of a million interactions per annum. It is not surprising, when you have such a large police force doing such an extraordinary amount of work, that there will be incidents take place where appropriate procedures and protocols have not been followed, but it is important we learn from them, make sure that the appropriate training regimes are in place and that those training regimes are reviewed to ensure that, where police force officers utilise a substantial authority that is invested within them, they do it in a way that is appropriate and consistent with both the law and, of course, public safety.