With Thebarton Police Barracks to be demolished, hunt begins for new home for police horses, dogs

The police have been given $2.4m to find a new home for their horses and dogs – but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

A top-level project team has been established to find a new home for the inhabitants of the soon-to-be-razed Thebarton police barracks.

Assistant Commissioner Noel Bamford has been charged with the mammoth logistic exercise, which will first involve finding a huge parcel of land on which new facilities for the highest-profile residents – the police horses and police dogs – will be built.

While that may sound relatively simple, the catch is the new facility replacing the police barracks – making way for the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital – needs to be within 5km of the CBD for operational imperatives.

The project team, which has been given $2.4 million in funding, also involves staff from the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, Premier’s department, treasury department officials and health department as it progresses.

Dog handler Sargeant Simon Rosenhahn with police dog Bomber and mounted officer senior constable Darcy Wright, with police horse Yass. Picture: Tom Huntley

“It is going to take some time and there is quite a process to go through,’’ Mr Bamford.

“We will be working through a process to decide if are we moving every work group in Thebarton barracks to a new site or will some of them be split off.

“There are pros and cons for each one, if you keep them all together you will probably need a bigger site, if we split them up it might create a number of operational issues, especially from a security perspective.’’

Mr Bamford said the police horses needed to be located close to the city, ideally within 5km, because of their operational duties in locations such as Hindley St at night.

“To be able to ride the horses in as they do now saves a huge amount of time and logistically it is much easier.’’ he said.

While police have 32 horses, only around 25 are stabled at Thebarton and use an adjacent paddock with the remainder spelled at Echunga. The new site will also require a several-thousand sqm paddock for resting the horses.

Senior constable Darcy Wright with Yass at the Thebarton Police Barracks. Picture: Tom Huntley

Dog handler, Sargeant Simon Rosenhahn with Police dog Bomber, on September 30th, 2022, at the Thebarton Police Barracks. Picture: Tom Huntley

“We are scanning what is around, we are looking for something that is within about 5km of the CBD, there are parcels of land out there we know of, but it would be pre-empting the while process to identify any one in particular,’’ he said.

The size of the land needed and subsequent cost will be determined by the number of business units to be housed at the new site, or if it is solely a facility for the police horses and dogs.

A workforce of around 250 police officers is accommodated at the Thebarton barracks in policing units including the security and emergency management command, mounted operations, dog operations, Operation Mandrake, the Police Security Services Branch and the police band.

Mr Bamford said while there was a lot of police history attached to Thebarton Barracks dating back to 1917, its “utility as an operational policing facility is limited”.

“What has been presented to us is a very good opportunity to ensure that moving forward, probably for the next 100 years, we get fit-for-purpose accommodation that will serve the needs of the organisation,’’ he said.

The Police Historical Society is also located at Thebarton and will also be relocated to make way for the new hospital.

“Hopefully we can really develop it as a modern, good-looking and really useful museum which will give us the opportunity to expand our potential audience,’’ society president Bill Prior said.