The PASA team

The Police Association leadership team included Dudley Noblett (president), Hector Gollan (vice-president) and Ralph Tremethick (secretary).

Six others made up the rest of the committee of management, and only 16 members – then known as divisional representatives – served as delegates.

Ops room relief

The association wrote to Commissioner John McKinna about third- and second-grade sergeants relieving a first-grade sergeant in the Operations Room.

In his response, Commissioner McKinna wrote: “I...am disappointed to learn that a third-grade sergeant has been detailed to relieve in the Operations Room. The matter will be investigated and rectified.”

Vale

Former police officer, Reynell Keith “Doggie” Olson died in hospital on January 16. He had joined SAPOL in 1928 and worked on beats and motorcycles. In 1942, he resigned to take a job with the Harbors Board.

Detective Sergeant Leo Minahan died on January 19. He had spent a week in hospital after a sudden illness struck him. His fellow members, many shocked by his death, paid their final respects to him in a funeral service at Kingswood Catholic Church. Det Sgt Minahan was survived by his wife, Pat.

Former Police Motor Workshop officer-in-charge, Arthur Gordon Sutherland, died in hospital on January 25, after a short illness. He had left SAPOL to work for Pioneer Tours before he set up his own motor engineering business in Halifax St.

Awards

Inspectors EW Henderson and JF Cawley were awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the New Year’s honours list.

House-and-building committee

The association committee passed a motion to establish a house-and-building committee to investigate “matters of future building and expansion”. Messrs Gollan, Nation and Trotter were suggested as appointees to the committee.

The PASA team

The Police Association leadership team included TJ Jennings (president), PR Warman (vice-president), WR Teague (vice-president) and RM Tremethick (secretary).

Five others made up the rest of the committee of management, and 28 members – then known as divisional representatives – served as delegates.

Sunglasses

The association announced that it would continue to discuss with SAPOL the issue of permission for its members to wear sunglasses on duty.

Police Club

The Police Club announced the arrival of its new colour TV and encouraged members to “make your comparisons with the club set before you decide whether you are going to buy”.

Slacks for female police officers

A survey indicated that female police officers supported a proposal to wear slacks as “part of their uniform...in inclement weather”. The association passed a motion to see that the slacks were provided by winter.

Vale

Retired first-grade sergeant, Edmund Jack Opie, died on January 19. He had joined SAPOL in 1926 and served in Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Riverton, Carrieton, Melrose, Brinkworth, Victor Harbor and Peterborough.

Ties off in police cars

Mr Tremethick met the Deputy Commissioner to discuss the issue of members removing their ties while in police cars during hot weather. The Deputy Commissioner indicated that, to help him determine a temperature at which this practice was appropriate, he would commission “some experiments”.

The PASA team

The Police Association leadership team included Tom Rienets (president), Barry Moyse (senior vice-president), Jim Furnell (junior vice-president), Dan Brophy (secretary) and Bob Rice (assistant secretary).

Seven others made up the rest of the committee of management, and 41 members served as delegates.

Police Offences Act amendment bill

Attorney General Chris Sumner introduced a bill to State Parliament to amend the Police Offences Act – and change its name to the Summary Offences Act. “The bill,” he told Parliament, “is the first major and wholesale change to the act for 30 years.

“It is made necessary by outdated provisions, inadequate penalties, and provisions which were increasingly irrelevant and antiquated in contemporary circumstances.”

Shooting

Probationary Constable Adrian Burnett was shot in the face after he responded to a domestic disturbance in Brodie St, Whyalla Stuart. A bullet smashed through his palate and right upper row of teeth before it travelled down his jaw and throat and lodged next to his spine.

The force of the shot spun him into a back flip before he hit the ground flat on his back. He would later say: “My teeth were all there on the ground in front of me in a pool of blood... Speaking into the handset, I remember saying: ‘I’m hit! I’m hit!’

“I stuck my fingers in my mouth and, like, there was nothing – it went all the way up into the passages of my nose. I mean I probably could have stuck my fingers out of my nose. It was just all gone.”

The bullet came from the rifle of a gunman holed up in a house with his wife as a hostage. He had begun to fire shots into neighbouring homes before Const Burnett set out to evacuate some residents and warn others to stay down.

Const Burnett, after jumping a series of back fences, made it to the front yard of a house directly opposite that of the gunman. Just as the young officer prepared to dash to the next house, the shot rang out.

Guided out of the firing line by a colleague, Const Burnett was rushed to the Whyalla Hospital and, later, the RAH. He underwent surgery and, within six weeks, returned to work on patrols.

The PASA team

The Police Association leadership team included Peter Alexander (president), Peter Parfitt (secretary), Bob Wohlenberg (vice-president) and David Neale (vice-president).

Eight others made up the rest of the committee of management, and 38 members served as delegates.

Enterprise bargaining

The association prepared to enter into its first round of enterprise bargaining negotiations with the Liberal government. Peter Alexander spoke of a “historic time for the association and the department, with the best result being improved performance for the organization and better salaries and conditions for the members”.

Police Journal cover story

The Police Journal February issue led with the story, Police and the media – relationship concerns, by Brett Williams. The five-page feature examined the way in which journalists covered police incidents, such as the Victorian police shootings of 1994.

Peter Alexander, then Police Association (Victoria) secretary, Danny Walsh, then Channel 9 news director, John Doherty, and newsreader, Rob Kelvin, contributed commentary.

“All we’d ask is that there be a balance in the reporting, and all factors associated with police shootings be reported,” Mr Alexander told the Police Journal.