July 1999 Volume 80 Number 7 "serving the protectors"
Police Minister Defends Government, SAPOL
By John Ballantyne

Police Minister Robert Brokenshire: spoke of tough new environment.

Police Association of South Australia president, Peter Alexander: warned of a long way to go to make up for depleted ranks.

One hundred and forty new police are to be recruited into Fort Largs over the next 12 months in an attempt by the Olsen government to halt falling police numbers.

The Police Minister, Mr Robert Brokenshire, made this announcement as guest speaker at the May Police Club luncheon.

Mr Brokenshire claimed that the new police recruitment drive, which would cost the State government $2.9 million over the 1999-2000 financial year, would mean that “police numbers should remain steady despite retirements and resignations.”

However, he warned that the State government’s resources were severely limited.

“Like other public services, the police have to compete for funds from the annual budget,” he said. “Despite the government’s debt management strategies, South Australia remains in a financially precarious position.”

In the course of a wide-ranging speech, Mr Brokenshire praised the work of SA police, especially their recent investigations into the Snowtown murders, and spoke of a night he spent ‘on the beat’ with some police officers in Hindley Street. He said that today he is more committed than ever to combat the drug menace.

He spoke about the tough new environment in which today’s police operate, and the high expectations the community has of them. He quoted a leading international commentator on policing, Herman Goldstein, who said: “Many of the problems coming to the attention of the police become their responsibility because no other means has been found to solve them.”

Mr Brokenshire envisaged police taking a more ‘pro-active’ role, working with community groups and other government agencies. He suggested that, given the complexities of the social problems they confront, police should be given the opportunity to use their discretion. But at the same time “police must be held accountable for the exercise of this discretion to ensure that their activities serve the community appropriately.”

He discussed the controversial work of Focus 21. He said that its goal was supposedly to enhance human resources “by maximising the knowledge, skills and competencies of the work-force” and “to bring about a stronger focus on community partnership and service delivery”. But he admitted that “Focus 21 is not without its problems”.

Mr Brokenshire defended the government’s strategy of ‘civilianisation’. He said that there are now so many demands on police services and so many new tasks demanding new qualifications, that it is hardly surprising that unsworn civilians are needed to shoulder some of the police workload.

He strongly argued that the process of civilianisation “should be seen as an extension of support for police officers, rather than as an attack on police numbers.”

Mr Brokenshire went so far as to claim that the process of “civilianisation” of many police functions “has been successful in mitigating much of the decline in actual police numbers.”

Later, however, when PASA President, Mr Peter Alexander, thanked Mr Brokenshire for his speech, he (Alexander) took the opportunity to point out that in the last six years there has been no addition to civilian recruits (according to official figures from the Police Commissioner).

Mr Alexander welcomed the State government’s announcement of a promised additional 140 police recruits, but warned that there was a long way to go to make up for the depleted ranks of the police force.

Also present at the Police Club luncheon were special guests, including the Deputy (then Acting) Commissioner, Mr Neil McKenzie; the Federal Labor Member for Kingston, Mr David Cox; as well as the State Labor opposition spokesman for police, Mr Patrick Conlon, who will be the Police Club luncheon’s guest speaker on July 26.

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