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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-21 Daily Xml
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TRAFFIC POLICE PLAN

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:32): Today I voice my concerns about the state government's attitude to the recently announced traffic police plan by the Commissioner of Police. Amongst other negative publicity on the plan was the Sunday Mail's opinion piece 'Police cutbacks on motorbikes irresponsible'. The article summarised the problems with the plan and I am calling on the state government to respond to this matter with some action.

My two main concerns are that the issue of motorcycle police within the new traffic plan is being masked purely as a matter of redeployment and that the government has absolved itself of the responsibility to provide public safety by virtue of these decisions being operational matters. It is clear that this government will take any opportunity to credit itself for any success stories coming back out of the South Australian police department.

Each time a group of cadets graduates, Labor pats itself on the back for providing resources. Whenever the latest crime figures are released, good or otherwise, a press release will present them in a manner allowing Labor to reiterate its supposed dedication to public safety. In those instances, it is never a commendation to the operational success of police, praising the ability to train their officers well or deploy them in an efficient or effective manner.

However, in the face of this contentious decision by senior figures within SAPOL, premier Rann has been very quick to distance himself from these decisions and, no doubt, to disconnect from the possible failures of this new traffic plan from any poor decisions within his cabinet. The facts and figures are that the commissioner has decided to cut the 50 motorcycle police officers to 22. The plan is to put 28 officers in rural South Australian areas. It apparently works out that there will be 15 additional traffic police officers in the metropolitan area, but they will not be on motorcycles.

The simple fact is that the commissioner's job is to make do, as efficiently and effectively as possible, with the resources given to him. There are obviously questions being asked about whether this traffic plan does utilise those resources in the best possible way. However, my first criticism is that SAPOL is clearly under pressure when it comes to resources. The fact they are having to rob Peter to pay Paul, as has been put by the Police Association, is a clear indication they do not have the resources that they need.

As Mark Carroll said in his opinion piece on Sunday, in 2001 SAPOL described in its own report motorcycles as far outweighing cars for flexibility, being able to respond to any incident at short notice, as well as being extremely cost effective. He described what once used to be 'support for a robust contingent of motorcycle officers'. This is the reason the decision to take the valuable motorcycle resources out of SAPOL has set off warning bells for the opposition about the obvious pressures the Commissioner is under to delegate what few resources he has.

The Police Association has asked why the extra traffic officers could not come from the 400 extra police delivered in the Rann government's last term, or perhaps from the extra 300 committed in this term. Perhaps the commissioner is aware of the reality of how many of those additional officers will actually be available for operational duties. It is no secret that the onerous administrative systems of SAPOL are not conducive to freeing up police for operational duties.

I have been very vocal in the past about how many police committed by premier Rann actually end up on the beat. This matter is causing considerable angst with the Police Association and, as evidenced by the Premier's Twitter site, throughout SAPOL in general. Has the government ever demanded an explanation from the commissioner as to why this decision was made? Can the minister and the Premier assure the public that SAPOL has not been put under pressure to make seemingly bad decisions due to a lack of resources?

During question time today I asked the Minister for Road Safety whether the government has sought any advice from the Road Safety Council on this latest decision. I have further sought that he table that advice if he has received it. I would assume that they have enough interest in the matter to make every effort to get independent advice on this particular decision.

The Premier has stated that that is an operational matter in which he will not become involved. Therefore, will he claim credit for the success that ensues if the traffic plan goes well, and, more importantly, will he be man enough to accept the responsibility if this decision leads to increased crime and decreased public safety?

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