January 1999 Volume 80 Number 1 "serving the protectors"
President's Message

Of great concern to the Police Association at this time is that only one cadet course is in training at Fort Largs.

Regretfully, this tends to indicate the Government's abandonment of its commitment to recruit against natural attrition. That commitment, of course, was announced in the lead-up to the last State election.

South Australia loses between 110 and 120 police officers each year by attrition - death, resignation and retirement. Failure to recruit at least that same number weakens the force accordingly.

Policing remains a labour-intensive industry. Our hard-working men and women need appropriate human resource support to deliver police services safely.

We are constantly told of more flexible management practices and better deployment and utilization of human resources. But we can all still count - and we can identify economic rationalism when we see it.

In the public interest, the Association calls upon the Government, Police Minister and Commissioner to articulate clearly their intentions in respect of police numbers.

After all, we are not seeking an increase, but rather sufficient numbers to maintain the status quo. Surely this is not an unreasonable request for a police force which has endured for five years without any increase.

Peter Alexander    President