Police Commissioner Grant Stevens issues plea for fuel retailers to switch to pre-pay amid rising reports of fuel theft and domestic violence

Rising reports of both fuel theft and domestic violence have prompted a fresh plea to fuel retailers from SA’s top cop.

Rising reports of both fuel theft and domestic violence have prompted a fresh plea to fuel retailers from Police Commissioner Grant Stevens: switch to pre-pay systems and stop the drain on stretched police resources.

After April rolling year statistics revealed a 6.3 per cent increase in the number of fuel drive-offs across the state, the Sunday Mail can reveal May data showed a further 2 per cent rise.

The rolling year crime statistics to May also showed 12,658 family and domestic abuse offences were reported to police – an increase of 1,613 offences (15 per cent) over the corresponding period.

Mr Stevens said the two sets of data highlighted competing demands on the finite resources of SA Police, which he said ultimately boiled down to “a simple equation”.

“If you’ve got a decision about investigating a fuel theft versus applying your resources to ensuring the safety of women and children, it’s a pretty easy equation to come to a result with,” he said.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens says fuel theft is a drain on stretched police resources. Picture: Tom Huntley

“(Fuel theft) is a drain on police resources at a point in time when demand on police is increasing year in, year out.”

Mr Stevens again urged retailers to adopt pre-pay systems, which would essentially eliminate petrol drive-offs overnight, and said the current model was flawed.

“It’d be like someone inventing a vending machine that provides chocolates and drinks where you punch the numbers for the item you want, it gives you the chocolate bar on the basis that you promised to put the money in once you’ve got it,” he said.

“No one would invent a vending machine like that.”

Seperate SA Police data crunched for the Sunday Mail showed there were 15,772 reports of petrol theft in the 2023-24 financial year – but 6974 of those did not meet the criteria for further investigation.

Of the 8798 that did meet the criteria, only 8.1 per cent were resolved by the arrest or report of an offender. A much smaller percentage resulted in a successful prosecution.

Mr Stevens said part of the difficulty for police was the construction of the legislation, which made it difficult to prove the mental element of the offence.

“We have to prove that a person took possession of the fuel dishonestly and with the intention of not paying,” he said.

“When we rely simply on CCTV and we see someone put fuel in their car, put the bowser back, get into their car and drive away, that becomes a very difficult threshold for us to meet.”

Such evidence would not exclude the possibility that a customer had simply forgotten to pay.

Each petrol drive-off is assessed but if there is no evidence to prove dishonest intent, the investigation is not progressed.

Mr Stevens again urged retailers to adopt pre-pay systems, which would essentially eliminate petrol drive-offs overnight. Picture: Tom Huntley

“That’s just a sensible, pragmatic approach,” Mr Stevens said.

Addressing the argument that the industry is reliant on sale of items in-store when customers come inside to pay, Mr Stevens said he was not proposing a “pay at the pump” system, and some retailers were already using apps.

“We simply say pre-paid. How the industry would adapt to that is up to them,” he said.

Originally published as Police Commissioner Grant Stevens issues plea for fuel retailers to switch to pre-pay amid rising reports of fuel theft and domestic violence