Police horses move ‘puts public safety at risk’ Opposition claims

Moving police horses to Gepps Cross will put public safety at risk in urgent situations as response times blow out to up to 50 minutes, the opposition says.

The cost of moving SA Police’s mounted police unit to Gepps Cross is heading above $100m while delays of up to 50 minutes to get to incidents in the city following the planned relocation from Thebarton puts public safety at risk, the Opposition claims.

The current response time from Thebarton is about 10 minutes.

Assistant Commissioner Noel Bamford told a Public Works Committee hearing on Monday members of the unit are concerned about significant delay in response.

He said the response time for the new site could be from 20 minutes to 50 minutes.

“There’s definitely going to be an impact on any sort of immediate response,” he told the committee.

Opposition police spokesman Sam Telfer said the response time delay “could put community safety at risk.”

A SAPOL police grey with staffer. Tiffany Kalderovskis. Picture Dean Martin

“The SAPOL horses currently take just 10 minutes to respond to CBD incidents, but now we’ve learned that response times will blow out to 50 minutes because of Peter Malinauskas’ decision to move the unit to Gepps Cross,” Mr Telfer said.

“This could have severe consequences for community safety with the SAPOL horses performing 85 per cent of their work in the CBD.

“We heard from SAPOL that members of the unit are concerned about this huge time delay and what impacts it may have on safety.”

Assistant Commissioner Bamford also revealed the $90m price tag to move to Gepps Cross does not include the cost to build infrastructure at the proposed city staging area on King William Rd behind the Supreme Court.

Mr Telford said this was likely to see the project cost blow out past $100m, as extra transport costs also are factored in.

“The staging area will need purpose-built infrastructure and the cost of that could be huge,” he said.

Mark Carroll, President of the Police Association of South Australia.

Police Association state president Mark Carroll has written to Premier Malinauskas calling for the move to be scrapped also citing public safety concerns, after the first chosen site in the South Parklands was scrapped by the government because of concern by parklands protest groups.

The letter also details concerns by members of the Dog Operations Unit, who fear their response times to critical incidents also will suffer if they are housed at a Gepps Cross facility.

The travel time of up to 50 minutes for the 10km from Gepps Cross to the city — depending on time of day — compares to triple Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva’s 2004 wining time of 3:28:55 for the 3200m course.

However, the champion mare was on a racetrack and could not have kept the pace up for the equivalent of two more races, while the SAPOL greys will be moved in horse floats on public roads.

A government spokesman said the cost of the city staging area is still being finalised as it is subject to final due diligence and the finalisation of design and commercial arrangements.

“Mounted Operations Unit undertake SAPOL operations to attend and respond to planned incidents and events,” the spokesman said. “Mounted Operations have never been considered a first responder unit within SAPOL.

“Just like the airport sites identified, the Gepps Cross location will require the transport of horses to and from the CBD. The city staging post is a key element to ensure SAPOL has the flexibility needed to maintain its operational effectiveness in the CBD.”

The government says custom build facilities are designed with “animal welfare, SAPOL officers and handlers safety at the forefront — it will be modern and custom built, setting up our Mounted and Dog Operations for the future.”