Government declares Hindley St public precinct, giving police greater powers to deal with troublemakers

RANDOM metal detector searches of Hindley Street patrons are part of new, stronger powers given to police to help deal with troublesome behaviour on Adelaide’s biggest party strip.

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RANDOM metal detector searches of Hindley Street patrons are part of new, stronger powers given to police to help deal with troublesome behaviour on Adelaide’s biggest party strip.

Today the State Government declared the city west area — which includes parts of North Terrace, West Terrace, Currie St, King William St and Hindley St — South Australia’s first public precinct.

That means on weekends, between 6pm and 6am, police patrols can ban partygoers from the special zone between certain hours, move troublemakers on from the area without warning, and hand out hefty fines up to $1250. Police will also use metal detectors while drug sniffer dogs patrol the streets.

Officers will also have authority to remove children from the area if they appear underage or are deemed to be at risk.

The new changes come into effect Friday night and will run until November 11, 2018, or unless specified otherwise by the State Government.

An ambulance on Hindley Street. Picture: Mike Burton.

Alterations to the Summary Offences Amendment Bill last year means, on advice from police, the State Government can declare any area a public precinct. The Bill was passed in October.

Before the changes, officers only had the ability to enforce similar powers within a licensed venue.

But now police say the pumped up control powers will help stamp out incidents in the CBD.

Alarming crime figures show that offences against good order — which include drug, behavioural and weapons related incidents — skyrocketed on weekends in 2015 and 2016. Last year more than 680 of those offences occurred in the CBD between Friday and Sunday.

Attorney-General John Rau said it was no secret that Hindley St was a problem area.

“It’s quite simple — if you don’t like the idea of being searched by police, or asked to move on, don’t be a menace on the streets,” Mr Rau said.

“We still have a large number of offences occurring on Friday and Saturday nights compared with the rest of the week.

“This is a measured response by SAPOL.

“It’ll give (police) the opportunity to able to be more investigative of people who are misbehaving.”

The declaration of an area is based on a risk assessment conducted by police. The Attorney-General has the last say on whether an area is approved as a public precinct.

Council for Civil Liberties chair Claire O’Connor SC said the State Government’s point of view was clear, but called the 6pm children’s curfew a “little extreme”.

“We know that there are 14-year-old kids in the mall on Friday night and how can you expect them to be with an adult after 6pm,” she said.

“But we do support a proactive view in relation to children who are at risk, who are out after hours at a time (when) they shouldn’t be unaccompanied.

“We (just want) to see these powers carefully monitored and audited, independently.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams said there would be a noticeable difference on Hindley St from Friday night.

“At the end of the day what we’re trying to do is make the area safer for everybody who wants to come dine there, socialise there (and) meet friends,” she said.

“I don’t anticipate there will be a significant push back at all, I think people will generally understand what we’re trying to do.”

Mr Rau said some businesses on the busy strip were resistant to the changes.

In 2013 the State Government introduced a 3am lockout for late-night venues.