October 1998 Volume 79 Number 10 "serving the protectors"
Editorial
By Andy Dunn (editor@pasa.asn.au)

The Issue, Not The Leak

Assistant Commissioner Graham Brown has vowed to find the person who leaked an internal police memo, according to The Advertiser.

After being leaked, the memo became the centre of an Advertiser article (Pull your weight and book more people, 12.09.98) by police reporter, John Merriman.

Merriman quoted excerpts from the memo which highlighted its very clear message: show your worth by issuing more infringement notices.

SAPOL management must have been left red-faced when that Saturday's Advertiser appeared on the streets. It seems to have instantly focussed on the person who leaked the information instead of the far more important issue raised in the article - quotas.

But intense embarrassment often causes people to lose perspective and grasp desperately at the nearest means of revenge.

Shooting the messenger in this, or any other case of exposing questionable practices, is wholly inappropriate. SAPOL management would be better served by asking itself why police officers feel compelled to alert the media to certain issues in the first place.

Could it be that they're not being afforded proper hearings by SAPOL's upper echelon?

Stranger Saved

Protecting people from themselves can sometimes pose more danger to police than routine dealings with hardened, violent criminals. It's the predictability factor. The intentions of an offender can often be anticipated quite correctly. But the irrationality of the suicidal makes their actions much harder to foresee.

One intent on self-murder may be focussed on more than just his or her own destruction. Lurking in the recesses of a disturbed, suicidal mind could be the thought of taking someone else to their death as well - a cop.

In this month's cover story, Saving One Determined to Die, Sergeant Jeff Oats disregarded every possible risk. In saving the life of a complete stranger, he could have been pulled to his death from a first-floor balcony.

Fortunately for the South Australian community, his commitment typifies that of all SA police.