Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-02 Daily Xml

Contents

Question Time

STOLEN PROPERTY

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:48): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Police.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: On the evening television news on Monday this week (31 March) and also on page 8 of The Advertiser yesterday (1 April) as well as by media release on the South Australia Police website, the South Australian police advised that they had attended a Blair Athol home seizing over 2,600 items of stolen property that the SA police had, so far, identified as being linked to 16 house break-ins throughout the metropolitan area of Adelaide.

Via the news stories the police invited members of the public who had been victims of recent house break-ins to 'contact police at Northern Operations Service Tactical Unit office by phoning 8270-6972 between 12 midday and 7pm on Tuesday 1 April'. Of course, that was yesterday. The purpose of the phone-in was to identify items that may belong to members of the public.

Following that, a constituent who lived in the inner northern suburbs and whose house had been broken into recently rang that number some 16 times during the seven-hour call-in window and on 15 occasions the line was engaged and on the other occasion the line rang out. So, the individual was never able to speak to somebody at the end of the so-called hotline. My questions are:

1. What went wrong?

2. Does the situation reflect the lack of adequate resources available to South Australia Police?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:50): I imagine that, if the phone were engaged 15 times, a large number of people could have been ringing in relation to this matter. Certainly, I can do two things for the honourable member: first, I will obtain an explanation from SAPOL as to what happened in relation to the phone-in; and, secondly, if the honourable member provides me with the name of the constituent, I will ensure that the relevant police officers ring that person as soon as possible to get a response.