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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-03-08 Daily Xml
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Police Staffing

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): What is your definition of 'front line' and how many officers will actually be on the front line?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his supplementary question. 'Front line' is a term that I think is colloquially used throughout the community for people who are out on the beat, so to speak. The police commissioner remains committed, as do I, to ensuring that we take as many people within SAPOL and put them where the community needs them most.

In the context of police stations, for instance, which I know have been a subject of some notoriety in recent days or recent weeks, we want sworn police officers who are skilled and equipped and trained to be able to deal with would-be assailants or those people doing the wrong thing within our community to not be stuck behind a desk where that work could otherwise be undertaken by another skilled employee, so that that police officer is out within the community, whether it be in a patrol car or serving in another capacity, for instance, in a criminal investigative capacity. Although the honourable member seeks a specific definition of 'front line', we use the term in the context of what ordinary people would expect police officers to be doing on a day-to-day basis in serving our community.

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