PASA added to callout list

SAPOL has reversed a decision it made in 1998 to exclude the Police Association from its critical-incident callout list. Under a concise set of guidelines, the police communications centre will now notify the association when any of its members are involved in “critical incidents”.

The revised decision comes after direct negotiations between Police Association secretary, Andy Dunn, and his SAPOL counterpart, Deputy Commissioner John White.

Mr Dunn said automatic notification would help association representatives respond to their members more quickly. He said a fast response would prove vital, as officers’ involvement in some incidents could leave them open to future litigation.

“It is crucial that, when necessary, we secure independent legal representation for our members – at the time of the incident,” he said.

“It’s important to our members. Those involved in critical incidents often have their minds on things other than their own welfare.

“So, when one of our association reps attends such an incident, he can see to it that the member’s welfare, particularly in an industrial sense, is not overlooked.”

SAPOL has defined critical incidents as:

• Shootings in which police officers are involved.
• Fatal or major-injury departmental collisions in which the injuries are life-threatening.
• Those that involve a Commissioner’s enquiry.
• Those in which specialist intervention services are involved and the police officer concerned requests association attendance.

In 1998, SAPOL cited a need for simple incident scenes as the reason it had excluded the association from the list. Then assistant commissioner, Jim Litster, said fewer support personnel helped keep scenes simple, and brought less complication to “legal forums somewhere down the track”.

Police officers then involved in critical incidents had to request an association representative before SAPOL would contact one. Those then – and still – on the list, such as Internal Investigations, Psychology and Welfare branches, received calls automatically.

Deputy Commissioner White, however, said he could see “no difficulty in the association being advised” when its members were involved in critical incidents.

“I thought it was an easy matter that we worked through, and we came up with a win-win for both SAPOL and the Police Association,” he said.

“From the SAPOL point of view, we’re at one. We (senior management) obviously have a managerial responsibility, but also a responsibility for our members. We see no problem in working together (with the association) on that.”

Deputy Commissioner White said the association would now, in most cases, receive a call within minutes of a critical incident.

Mr Dunn said association representatives were able to respond to any critical incidents on a 24-hour basis. He added that they could even attend incidents that, although unlikely, might occur simultaneously.

“We have four well qualified and motivated industrial staff; and, since 1998, we’ve successfully attended incidents involving multiple members,” he said.