House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-11 Daily Xml

Contents

Police Cells

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:53): A supplementary, sir: given the minister's answer, can he advise whether he agrees with Commissioner Burns who said on radio in relation to remand prisoners in police cells that it was like playing musical chairs and in fact that there were impacts on operational capacity when cells were unavailable for police who were making an arrest and that was their closest station?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for his question. The commissioner went to great lengths this morning to explain that as police commissioner he holds, if you like, the title to the cells but they are actually managed by Corrections. I have nothing to add to that opinion expressed by the commissioner. He is quite correct there. What I can also say is that Corrections officers do their best to make sure that people who are sent to gaol for whatever reason are housed and the community is kept safe.