October 1999 Volume 80 Number 10 "serving the protectors"
Police Chaplaincy to Undergo Self-Analysis
By Brett Williams

South Australia’s police chaplaincy will face the judgement of 500 police officers through a recently-distributed survey. Designed by academy chaplain, Reverend Mark Thomas, the 11-question survey invites officers to rate their level of satisfaction with the chaplaincy and suggest improvements.

And senior police chaplain, Reverend David Marr, insists that neither he nor his volunteer chaplains are above criticism.

“We’re open to that,” he told the Police Journal. “Nobody’s above learning, and right from the start I’ve been happy to take on board comments that members have made.

“It doesn’t matter who we are or what our profession (is), there’s always room for improvement.”

The survey was sent to most stations where chaplains serve, and participating officers were selected at random.

Reverend Marr said that no formal assessment had ever been undertaken since the chaplaincy’s inception in 1993. Informal “feedback”, he said, had been the only gauge available.

“We hope that we’ll learn something out of it so that we can actually provide a better service to our members and their families,” he said. “I know questionnaires are a bit of a pain, but I hope members will just take the few minutes to fill it out.”

Police Association of South Australia secretary, Andy Dunn, said the union fully supports the survey and will encourage its members to participate.

Reverend Thomas expects to report on the survey’s results by December. A copy of his final report - expected in June 2000 - will be available at the SAPOL library.

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