Opening hours at nine police stations to be reduced from September under SA Police reforms
OPENING hours at nine police stations across Adelaide will be slashed from next month and another metropolitan station will be closed, under the latest wave of SA Police reforms.
OPENING hours at nine police stations across Adelaide will be slashed from next month and another metropolitan station will be closed, under the latest wave of SA Police reforms.
The controversial changes, which have come under fire amid concerns it will jeopardise community safety, will take effect on Monday, September 5.
Front counter opening hours will be reduced to Monday-Friday, 9pm-5pm at the Aldinga, Glenelg, Golden Grove, Henley Beach, Netley, Norwood and Salisbury Stations.
These stations, except Aldinga, are currently open seven days a week, with opening hours ranging from 7.30am to 11pm.
The Holden Hill and Sturt stations will continue to be open seven days a week but their hours will be reduced from 24 hours to 9am-9pm.
The Parks station will be closed to the public however, it will remain a 24 hour, seven days a week patrol base.
The changes were first mooted in October last year and underwent community consultation in May.
The reforms, which are the biggest shake-up of the force in almost 20 years, have already resulted in the closure of nine suburban police stations.
Salisbury Council was among those who objected to the reduced hours at its local station, saying it would “impact on community safety as the presence of an operating police station affects the real and perceived safety of a community”.
A police statement said the opening hours had been revised “to ensure appropriate levels of service delivery to the community”.
“A review of opening hours and customer requirements by SA Police – conducted as part of a widespread reform program – found the community primarily contact the police by telephone, calling for assistance rather than attending at a police station,” it read.
“It also found nearly all of the front counter service provided to the public by police was of an administrative nature and took place during business hours.
“These changes will return police to front line patrols attending to calls from the public.”
SA Police Association president Mark Carroll said common sense had prevailed in relation to operation at Adelaide’s Wakefield St station, but the community would be concerned about the closure of police stations and shortening of operating hours in their area.
“We will be very eager to watch what (police officer) numbers are returned to front line duties,” he told ABC 891.
“We are very concerned about the current staffing numbers in SAPOL.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police Noel Bamford said the changes were about using resources to provide the best services.
He told ABC 891 that stations affected by the changes had three or less transactions an hour.
“The majority of the people were coming in during business hours,” he said.
“We had, and currently have a lot of people sitting around after hours waiting for someone to come in and their time is better spent if we put them in police cars actually dealing with the crime rate.”