Question Time

Police Aerial Operations

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Police. Can the minister outline how South Australia Police is utilising new technologies to enhance its aerial operational capabilities?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for her important question, talking about an important piece of public policy, which is aimed at keeping South Australians safe. Earlier this week, I had the great honour of joining Superintendent David O'Donovan, the officer in charge of the Special Tasks and Rescue Group, otherwise known as the STARies, and John Boag from Babcock International to announce a $4.6 million upgrade to the South Australia Police helicopter, otherwise known as PolAir.

PolAir is a critical piece of equipment for our first responders, conducting around 1,000 missions a year across all agencies that use the helicopter. I am advised that around 300 missions a year are utilised in a SAPOL context. The $4.6 million investment has seen PolAir fitted with world-leading infrared sensor technology in the form of the Wescam EO IR, replacing the Forward Looking Infrared system, otherwise known as the FLIR system, that was used by SAPOL for approximately 20 years.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Don't give away any operational secrets, Peter.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: No, no, I won't be doing that. The Wescam EO IR is a highly sophisticated camera that senses light and heat and has the ability to produce high definition bird's-eye images with superior precision. The integration of this technology has resulted in our helicopters being amongst the most mission capable in the world. These images can be overlaid on existing digital maps, enabling an individual or object to be rapidly pinpointed so that ground resources can be quickly deployed to the location.

The technology has significantly increased the night-time vision and operational capacity of STAR Group officers, and due to the nature of the technology and its aerial deployment, Pol-Air can be deployed to both land and sea searches. The technology enables SAPOL to search a larger area more effectively in a shorter amount of time and in turn provides a greater situational awareness of an operation for SAPOL's incident managers.

As a demonstration of the technology, the media was provided vision of a search-and-rescue mission whereby a man was located as the result of the identification of his body heat; I believe it was in a set of vineyards. The time saved in being able to locate him aerially through the use of this technology could have saved his life. Another example is the ability of SAPOL to pursue five offenders who had stolen a vehicle and had sought to flee. By using the infrared camera, Pol-Air was able to track each of the offenders and provide real-time updates to those officers on the ground, which resulted in their apprehension.

The most recent investment is, again, another demonstration of our continuing investment in world-leading technology for our South Australian police force. In recent months, I have had the great pleasure to announce the rollout or implementation of a number of technologies. Many in this chamber would, I am sure, recall reflections that I have shared on the body worn video technology that SAPOL now utilise, the facial recognition technology that SAPOL now have rolled out in sections of their force and also the mobile ruggedised tablets, which dramatically enhance the efficiency of SAPOL officers throughout the state. Now, of course, there is this installation of new technology on the police helicopter. All of these combined ensure that our police force is cutting edge when it comes to the utilisation of new technologies.

New technologies should be embraced; they mean we can provide for a more efficient, more effective service out on the ground, keeping South Australians safe. Of course, this comes on the back of the government's record commitment to additional to police in our police force. We have a growing police force in terms of sworn officers, but we are also giving them world-leading, cutting-edge technology. All of this amounts to an unprecedented commitment to South Australian police, something I am sure former police minister Robert Brokenshire, had he been here, would acknowledge and appreciate.

We are committed to keeping South Australians safe. This is all but part of a suite of reforms that we are seeing occur in SAPOL, and we wish the men and women who use the SAPOL helicopter every success in their missions, and of course we hope that they can always remain safe as they fly in the air.